Africa trades with standard vessels, say shipowners
Nigerian shipowners have said that vessels trading in Africa and Nigeria in particular are standard vessels that can trade anywhere in the world.
The President of the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping, Aminu Umar, said vessels that trade in West Africa meet global standards.
“It is just that the owners operating in West Africa today prefer to operate in this region, which is dominated by Nigerians. It is not that the configuration does not meet the standard.”
He explained that it was difficult for a single-hull vessel to trade everywhere in the world, adding that the vessels would not be certified.
“No single hull will be seen trading as it is today. It will not be allowed and cannot even get cargoes. So, there is none that is trading today as a single hull because the counterparts will not even pick her; the insurance would not insure her. The certification company will not certify her. So, it does not exist in the shipping trading world,” Umar declared.
Another shipowner, Mr Tunji Brown, said, “The vessels operating in West Africa are old but seaworthy. Good vessels are operating in Nigerian waters, not unseaworthy ones. Single hull was phased out 10 years ago.”
Also, the President of the Nigerian Indigenous Shipowners Association, Mr Sola Adewumi, noted, “What we are saying is that people do not invest in shipping any longer because of the funds involved. We are not able to compete with our foreign counterparts, because over there they give them money at single digits but here nobody cares about shipping. You get your money at the normal loan rate, the way an ordinary man gets his loan. And that is affecting the standard of vessels we are having here, which is giving us a lot of issues.”
He, however, lauded the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency for its efforts in improving the quality and standard of vessels that operate at the country’s waterways.
“In fact, you will not be surprised that vessels that cannot work in Europe that are no more seaworthy in Europe, they bring them to this area to work, because they believe that we are not as strict as those people, so they can still find their way here. But NIMASA has been able to curb that one, so there is nothing like that anymore,” he asserted.
Explaining further, he said when the International Maritime Organisation started the issue of the double hull, Nigeria did not commence immediately, so the single hull that could not be used in Europe was sent down here.
“There was a time IMO when started the issue of the double hull. Nigeria did not commence immediately, so the single-hull vessels that could not work in Europe were brought to Africa. But as we speak now, that era is gone. However, there are some jobs foreigners cannot do because of cabotage,” he pointed out.
