The Governing Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has approved the concession of Terminal B, Warri Old Port to Messers Ocean and Cargo Services Limited.
Rising from a meeting on Wednesday at its Marina, Lagos Headquarters and chaired by Mr Emmanuel Adesoye, Chairman of the Board, the authority said it is in continuation of the Port Reform process started by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in 2006.
According to a statement issued by the management of the Authority, at the end of the board meeting, the new concessionaire emerged from seven pre-qualified bidders who responded to a Request for Proposals(RfPs) issued by BPE on September 27, 2017.
The statement explained that Ocean and Cargo Services Limited will operate the terminal which has been abandoned for the past ten years in a concession agreement for a 25-year term.
Within this period, the concessionaire would rehabilitate infrastructure at the terminal and deploy modern technological infrastructure with the aim of making the facility competitive. The development plan for the Terminal will be reviewed every five years to make it responsive to changes in operations.
Terminal B, Old Warri Ports was first concessioned to Associated Maritime Services Limited in 2006 but the company was relocated to the Warri New Port upon the collapse of the quay wall in April 2008.
The Terminal covers an area of 4.39 hectares and consists of facilities like a 760m long quay deck with appropriate quay hardware, open cargo storage areas as well as engineering and maintenance yards.