The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT), Onne Port, Rivers State, has acquired additional equipment including a reach stacker and two terminal trucks to further boost efficiency and cargo handling operations at the port.  This brings to six the number of trucks acquired by WACT this year.

Over 24,000 cadets who have graduated from the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, Oron in Akwa Ibom state in the last 16 years have been without the opportunity of completing their sea time training that would have qualified them as seafarers. Graduates from other maritime institutions also swell this number.

The leadership of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria, SOAN, may have begun repositioning the group for engaging maritime authorities on the funding of vessel acquisitions and fleet expansion programme.

OPERATIVES of the National Inland Waterways Authority’s Police Unit, Lagos state have arrested a boat operator and his assistant for endangering the lives of twelve school children who boarded their boat.

Maritime industry experts have indicated that the current traffic gridlock at the Apapa port area more worsens as a result of a projected increase in the volume of port activities in the near future and the haphazard port management system in the country.

The Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC which is the nation’s Port Economic Regulator, also serves as the industry anti-corruption watch-dog in its bid to ensure smooth trade facilitation in the nation’s maritime domain.

The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, is gradually reaching towards getting the International Standard Organization, ISO 9001:2015 Certification as it concludes training for Port Managers and officers of the Harbours department of the authority.

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, has said that the proposed Inland Dry Ports, IDPs, will permanently take care of congestions at the seaports when completed and operational and enhance the nation’s cargo handling capacity.

OPERATIVES of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, on Monday, intercepted 13 kilogrammes of a substance suspected to be hard drugs, just as three suspects were arrested in connection with the illicit cargo.

The value of the logistics sub-sector of the economy currently stands at N250 billion, according to the 2018 Logistics and Supply Chain Industry report.

THE Norwegian Fishery Council, NFC, and the Nigeria Customs are currently in talks with a view to creating a platform for the exchange of information on pricing of fish and other perishable cargoes.

When recently the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) set its face against violators of the coastal and inland shipping law, after a series of engagements with stakeholders, MT Navigator Capricorn, a Liberian-registered Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) vessel, was in plain sight. Caught in the Agency’s crosshairs, MT Navigator Capricorn, which is on lease to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, and supplies cooking gas to Nigeria’s domestic market, was detained. It was later released. But the decisive statement on the enforcement of the revised guidelines on the implementation of the Cabotage Act was not lost on stakeholders.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has signed an agreement with the Maritime Academy of India for onboard sea time training of some graduates of the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme, NSDP.

The Standards Organization of Nigeria, SON, has decried wilful importation of substandard goods and false declaration by importers, warning that SON will continue to work at fishing out such importers and ensure that they face the consequences of their action.

The management of the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, has expressed concern over the use of obsolete vessels on the nation’s inland water transportation, attributing prevalent incidences of boat mishaps to this situation.