Afrigather 
The Federal Authorities has saved about US$8.5 billion (N3.91 trillion) in its port concession programme which was beforehand paid to international delivery strains as congestion surcharge.
The Chairman, Seaports Terminal Operators Affiliation of Nigeria (STOAN), Princess Vicky Haastrup, disclosed this whereas addressing journalists after a courtesy go to to her by the brand new Nation Managing Director of APM Terminals Nigeria, Frederik Klinke.
The STOAN chairman additionally mentioned that members of the affiliation, who’re the concessionaires, are able to inject extra funds into the port as soon as pending concession agreements are renewed.
She mentioned along with the large financial savings to the economic system, terminal operators have additionally made important investments operating into billions of {dollars} on the six main seaports throughout the nation.
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“Nigeria’s port concession programme has been a monumental success. Many African international locations ship representatives right here to understudy our port concession regime and the way we had been in a position to considerably improve funding and effectivity inside a really brief time frame. It exhibits ‘we can-do spirit of Nigerians’.
“The port concession programme decreased the ready time of vessels coming into our ports from a median of 45 days earlier than 2006 to lower than three days at current. It has helped in eliminating the infamous congestion surcharge hitherto imposed on our ports by main delivery strains beneath the aegis of the Europe-West Africa Commerce Settlement EWATA.
“The elimination of the port congestion surcharge has resulted in saving Nigeria’s buying and selling neighborhood over US$500 million each year. Should you multiply that by the 17 years of port concession, that quantities to a financial savings of US$8.5 billion up to now. In naira phrases, that could be a financial savings of greater than N3.9 trillion to the Nigerian economic system” she mentioned.
The Nation Managing Director of APM Terminals Nigeria, Frederik Klinke, who mentioned his firm has a long-term dedication to Nigeria, assured that APM Terminals would proceed to set new requirements for port operation within the nation and help the Federal Authorities’s drive to diversify the economic system via the promotion of non-oil export.
