By Godfrey Bivbere, Eguono Odjegba & Ebuka Oko

Federal University ofPetroleum, Effurun, Delta State, has ventured into ship building with the construction of a passenger ferry, Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Ibhadode, has said.

The project was embarked upon by the Centre for Marine and Offshore Service of the university and would serve as a starting point for its entery into ship building services, Obhadode noted.

Disclosing this in an exclusive interview with Vanguard Maritime Report, he added that the construction is sponsored by a local company in Delta state.

“They are building a passenger ferry boat right now that we hope to launch maybe in the next two months and it is being sponsored by a local company.”

Ibhadobe applauded the efforts of the local expertise which is sorely the support of this construction and pointed out that it is just a local ferry which will help in achieving the mission of the local companies.

“It is a local ferry and that is the kind of thing we want. We want to be part of the mission of the operations of local companies that is what universities are supposed to do and that is what we are trying to do.”

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He also admitted that the 20-seater boat with 75 horse power engine is designed to convey passengers from one point to another and they are hoping to build a bigger boat in the future.

He stated: “Yes we are building a passenger boat, it is sponsored by a company in Warri and it will ferry passengers from one point to another within the environment. So we are working on it and we are hoping that in the next two months or so; the projects will be completed and we are hoping that with that we can build bigger boats.

”The Center has done quite a lot in its two years of existence we are doing quite a lot in terms of training seamen, in terms of the Marine Industry role and the Shipping industry, a lot is been done.

“Furthermore, it is through this Centre that we are collaborating with quite a number of companies, shipping companies, shipping countries like Norway, and so on and so forth so we are doing quite a lot in this area. It is a very young Centre like about two to three years old and we are making a lot of progress”, he added.

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