By Samson Echenim
West Africa Container Terminal (WACT), manager of the Onne Oil & Gas Port in Rivers State, has said it is putting in $10 million in port operations infrastructure as part of its plans to upgrade service.
The company said it was set to receive two new mobile harbour cranes from Liebherr, in July as part of the unprecedented $10 million upgrade, which also included acquisition of four specialised terminal trucks and an empty handler.
Speaking while unveiling the trucks at the port complex, Aamir Mirza, WACT’s managing director, said the acquisition of four additional specialised terminal trucks brought to 10 the number of such trucks acquired by WACT so far in 2019 alone, with four more expected before the end of the year.
“The current upgrade is targeted at bringing our operations at par with its peers in Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports, Lagos in terms of equipment and operational efficiency. WACT is considered not just the biggest but also the most efficient container terminal outside Lagos,” Mirza said.
According to him, WACT is committed to replicating the ports in Lagos in Onne Port to develop the eastern market.
He said, “You will recall that four trucks arrived first in February, then we added two in April, and four have just arrived. This is in line with our plan of investing in container handling equipment to maintain our strong position in East Nigerian market.
“We have been investing in getting more equipment to our terminal to make sure that we continue to serve our customers better, deliver their cargo on time in a way that will bring more business to our terminal. We want to assure them that we will continue to fulfill the commitment that we have made in making sure that we continue to serve them better as we progress through the year,” Mirza said.
