West Africa container terminal prepares for ‘$10m upgrade’

The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT), Onne Port, Rivers state, says it is preparing to take delivery of two new mobile harbor cranes from Liebherr, as part of an unprecedented $10 million upgrade.

The upgrade will bring WACT, which is not just the biggest but also the most efficient container terminal outside Lagos, at par with its peers in Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, Lagos in terms of equipment and operational efficiency.

Speaking during the inauguration of four new specialised terminal trucks and an empty handler in Onne on Friday, Aamir Mirza, managing director of WACT,  said the mobile harbor cranes are expected to arrive Nigeria in July.

He also said the acquisition of four additional specialized terminal trucks brings to 10 the number of such trucks acquired by WACT so far this year, with four more expected before the end of the year.

“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,” he said.

“So far we have 10 terminal trucks and four are still coming on the way. We have 12 that we are already using in the past. So with this, we are going to have substantial number of trucks. The trucks are required to support the operations of the mobile harbor cranes because when compared to the current vessel cranes, the mobile harbor cranes operate at a faster rate.

“So already we are bringing them in and when the two cranes arrive in July, we will already have these trucks with us and as soon as those cranes are commissioned, we would have all the required equipment with us for efficient operation.

“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.”

While expressing appreciation to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for their support and collaboration, Mirza said apart from investing in equipment, WACT has also focused on improving communication with its customers on major developments at the terminal.