•As Transport Minister orders rail link

By Godwin Oritse

THE promoters of Lekki Deep Seaport has concluded plans to test run the port in December 2022 ahead of the delivery date next year as the installation of equipment and machines has commenced.

Speaking to  Vanguard Maritime Report,  an official of the company who pleaded anonymity also said that all the approved security agencies will have their presence in the port.

The official also said that the inspection and scanning areas have been constructed and ready to be test run by end of the year.

Vanguard Maritime Report  gathered that the entire operation of the port will be automated where containers will not have to be opened for examination.

The port also has three sub-stations with a combined 16 megawatts  of power to be generated for operations at the port.

According to the information gathered by  Vanguard Maritime Report, there will be eight power plants with each of them generating two megawatts of power.   

The terminal area which will the container stacking area is ready, at the port the Rubber Tyer Gantry, RTG, cranes will move containers to the terminal area while the Ship-to-Shore, STS, cranes will be at the marine side.

It was learnt that one of the power plants will be dedicated to reefers containers (Refrigerated Containers) to ensure that perishables remain in their best quality.

The $1.5billion port will have a draft of 19 meters when completed, an indication that however large the vessel is, the port will conveniently berth and discharge her contents.

With the deployment of the STS crane, the turn-around time of cargo clearing will be at barest minimum.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has directed that the Lekki deep seaport be connected to the nearest rail link so as to make the movement of cargoes in and out of the port seamless.

In the overall status sighted by  Vanguard Maritime Report, the dredging and reclamation is 90.9 percent completed just as the quay wall is also about 87.3 percent completed.

Other areas of completion include the two kilometre breakwater which is 82.7 percent completed while the landside infrastructure is 70 percent completed as well.

Vanguard News