The NLNG Ship Management Limited (NSML), the shipping arm of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company has lamented that Nigeria lacks the capacity to dry-dock any of its liquefied natural gas vessels, causing the company still dry-dock her vessels outside Nigeria .
Abdul-Kadir Ahmed, the Managing Director/CEO of NSML, told newsmen in Lagos that international financing regulation is a major reason why all 11 LNG vessels are not registered under Nigerian flags.
According to him, his company wanted to dry-dock its 11 LNG vessels and one LPG vessel in Nigeria due to the huge revenue such would generate for the country, but due to lack of any dry-docking facility that can handle an LNG vessel in the country, the company is forced to dry dock her vessels outside the country.
He said capital flight is an issue when it comes to dry docking of our LNG vessels.
“As a Nigerian ship management company, it’s so much easier for me to dry-dock our vessels here in Nigeria that is if there is anywhere I can do it. At the moment, there is no facility in Nigeria that can dry-dock vessels of the sizes that we manage. I don’t want to sound critical but realistic; there is currently no facility in Nigeria that can handle any of our LNG vessels.
“I am not saying there are no dry-docking facilities in Nigeria. There are dry-docking facilities in Nigeria. However, if you understand the nature and size of an LNG vessel, then you will know that there is nowhere in Nigeria that such vessels can be dry-docked as of today.
“But most importantly, underpinning ability is capacity development, and we have already embarked on that path. As part of our Bonny Gas Transport (BGT) Plus Project, there was a scheme to bring in Samsung and Hyundai together with some Nigerian investors to establish a dry-docking facility in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the scheme has not fully taken off, but we are still optimistic. We hope that when it fully takes off, it will commence effectively at the right standard.
“We are optimistic that this happens because as a Nigerian company, it is cheaper and more affordable for us to patronise dry-docking facilities in-country. Unfortunately, at the moment, there is no such facility in the country that can handle our vessels, and this has left us with no other choice than to patronise dry-docking facilities outside the country.”
On whether any of its 11 LNG vessels are flying Nigerian flags, the NSML Boss explained that “None of the BGT vessels that we manage for NLNG are flying Nigerian flags. We currently manage 11 BGT vessels, and all are registered under the Bermuda flag.
