As efforts are being increased towards pulling the nation out of the current economic recession, the national economy is set to reap from the about $160 million spent yearly on dry-docking repairs of over 500 vessels of various specifications and sizes operating in Nigerian waters currently being done in neighbouring Ghana and Cameroon.The development is sequel to the acquisition by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) of a modular floating dockyard, measuring 125 metres by 35 metres with three in-built cranes, transformers and a number of ancillary facilities being built by one of the worlds largest ship building firms, Damen Shipyards and its partner, NIRDA, in Amsterdam, Netherlands which will soon be delivered to the country.The standard of the International Maritime Organisation is that every vessel undergoes dry-docking once every three years.LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that it costs between $300,000 and $500,000 to dry-dock a vessel and with an average of 5000 ships, 400 active coastal vessels and several fishing trawlers calling at the Nigerian ports annually, the demand for ship repair and maintenance facilities can only be on the rise.It costs at least $400,000 to dry-dock a vessel for 25 days and with 400 active coastal vessels and several fishing trawlers, Nigerian ship owners spend $160 million yearly on dry-docking of their vessels in neighbouring countries.Prior to the acquisition of the modular floating dockyard, there were a few land-based dockyards in Nigeria which are not functioning optimally and ship owners had continued to lament that there was no facility that could handle a 30,000 ton oil tanker in the country and because of that, approximately 500 coastal vessels go to neighbouring Ghana, Duala and Robins Bay for dry-docking yearly.Speaking to LEADERSHIP Sunday on the modular floating dockyard said to be the fifth largest in Africa, the director-general of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside said Nigerian ship owners would be the better for it as they would save over $100 million yearly as a result of the development.This will be a direct saving from the dry-docking of vessels operating in Nigeria, which are mostly done outside the country at the moment. It is our desire to partner with the private sector to run the dockyard, he pointed out..Also speaking, the president, Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Engr. Greg Ogbeifun, said there was no shipyard in Nigeria that could handle a 30,000-ton oil tanker.He noted that lack of adequate infrastructure such as power; roads and a viable steel production industry were some of the factors inhibiting the development of the maritime sector in the country.Describing ship repair as an expensive operation globally, he said most ship owners preferred to dry-dock their vessels within the confines of the routes they operate. As at today, ship building and repair is relatively non-existent in Nigeria. The building of ships involves enormous amounts of money. Nigeria has only one ship building yard located in Onne, Rivers State, while there are other small yards that build barges and fiberglass small personnel vessels. The big shipyards and dockyards are in fact maintenance facilities for docking and general ship repairs, he explained.Ogbeifun noted that the existing facilities were not enough and so clients had been demanding facilities to meet the teeming needs of ship owners
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