Gbemisola Saraki, Minister of State for Transportation, has commended the efforts of Team Offshore Nigeria in its multi-million dollar investment in acquisition of new vessel to increase indigenous tonnage in the nation’s shipping business.
Saraki made the commendation in Lagos on Thursday during the commissioning of a newly acquired vessel, Team Beleuzi by Team Offshore Nigeria, a leading offshore support service provider in the nation’s oil and gas industry.
She assured Nigerians of the Federal Government’s commitment to enhancing ease of doing business by creating enabling environment and removing bottlenecks to smooth business operations that limits economic growth.
Team Beleuzi, a wholly Nigerian-owned vessel is a Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) built in 2019 and designed to transport supplies and equipment to and from offshore installations, in addition to supply drilling equipment, drilling bulks, fluids and pipes.
Represented by Chinwe Ezenwa, former acting managing director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Saraki also commended the company for its contribution to local content development and other achievements.
She, however, urged the company to continue to maintain the drive towards meeting local content requirements in Nigeria.
“With your track records and investment that you are injecting into Nigeria’s economy since you started operation in 2017, we are convinced that you have confidence in Nigeria and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari,” she said.
She also said that Team Offshore Nigeria has in its fleet 14 specialised vessels flying Nigerian flag and contributing to local content development, with average fleet age of 6.5 years; and 2018, 2019 built vessels in its fleet.
“All these have been made possible by a 100 percent Nigerian ownership and a workforce of 90 percent indigenous personnel that have also shown commitment towards achieving a minimum of 70 percent Nigerian content in its various operations,” Saraki added.
Funke Agbor, maritime lawyer and partner ACAS Law – owners of Team Offshore,
who christened and formally named Godmother of the vessel, also commended Team Offshore for the landmark achievement, which she said would not only support the offshore industry but Nigeria’s seafarers.
Dakuku Peterside, director-general, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), said the acquisition of the vessel to ply Nigerian waters was an indication that Nigerian water is safe for investment.
“There was an attempt to portray our waters as unsafe for vessels to operate but with the coming of Team Beleuzi, all of that has been rubbished and proved that Nigerian waters are safe and not unsafe as they want people to believe,” he said.
Earlier, Afolabi Caxton- Martins, managing Partner at ACAS Law, said the new acquisition is an addition to Nigerian tonnage that will help build capacity, including development of human resources and the utilisation of Nigerian goods and services.
“At Team Offshore, our mission has been to focus on maximising our Nigerian content contribution and creating in-country value, through investment for growth and local employment,” he said.
According to him, “the company cut its teeth with a few bare boat charters and grew incrementally with the technical and financial support of what was then Topaz Energy and Marine Limited until Topaz was acquired recently in July and became P & O Maritime Logistics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DP world.”
“Today, Team Offshore is proud to have in operation, 12 Nigerian registered and flagged vessels under bareboat charter in addition to its newly acquired platform support vessel. This investment is evidence of our partner’s confidence in Nigeria and the laws which have enabled it,” he said.
