SIFAX Group, one of Africa’s leading multinational Maritime company, said it had attained 130,000 Twenty-feet Equivalent Unit(TEU) cargo capacity by June ending.
Sifax Group General Manager, Chief Adekunle Oyinloye, told journalists on Tuesday in Lagos that the organisation had projected to reach 290,000 TEU cargo capacity by the end of the year.
A twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) is described as an inexact unit of cargo capacity often used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals.
SIFAX Group is a multinational Maritime, Aviation, Haulage & Logistics firm of 31-years.
Oyinloye added that in the last six months, SIFAX had achieved above 100,000 tons of general cargo.
“We want to set the pace in the maritime industry and so we are looking into the future of maritime and logistics, positioning ourselves ahead of time of what is likely to happen in the industry.
“This has led to us projecting for a five-year strategy plan and this will lead to having an increased number of bonded terminals.
“Also, as a maritime operator, we are constantly under the survelliance of statutory organisations that regulate what we do and this has enabled us cordinate our activities in line with regulatory expectations,” he said.
Oyinloye said that in getting the organisation ready for that trajectory growth, there were many changes in expansion of its businesses on their terminals.
He said that Sifax was getting its Warri terminal ready for business ahead of when Warri port would begin operations.
He said that the company was also investing in massive purchase of equipment to support the growth of its business as regards berthing of vessels and taking of consignment out of the port to its destination.
On haulage, he said the company had 75 trucks and would acquire 25 more trucks for port and cargo haulage, saying that it would be involved through the value chain .
Oyinloye listed other new businesses of the organisation to include the hospitality sector, where the company would be introducing a Marriott 5-star hotel in the first quarter of next year with Sky Capital providing the financial services.
He said that the major challenge affecting the organisation was access road to to and from the port, calling for the speedy restoration of the road as the port was the pride of the country.
He urged government to think beyond the road by linking Tin-can by rail, assuring that the company was ready to play any role expected to see that work completed.
He also called for human capacity development for those in port management, saying that they needed to be trained on operations with equipment.
“Due to the bad road network, business activities slowed down and this has led to business going to neighbouring country’s ports.
“We expect that in the next half of the year, with the reduction in congestion and introducing of taskforce to help reduce congestion, access to port will be easy and business improved,” he said.
