Onne Multipurpose Terminal (OMT), a subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), a global port operator, has stormed Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra state to appreciate the importers in the area for business patronage.
The company accompanied by the shipping line operators and clearing agents in Onne, Rivers State hosted the Onitsha importers with special treats on Thursday.
Charles Chukwudebe Okogbue, ICTSI OMT Commercial Care Manager, who also doubled as the company’s Customers Care Manager, said at the event that it was its first time of meeting with the Onitsha importers since inception in Nigeria in 2021 to appreciate and interact with them.
Okogbue, who stated that the company will also replicate the same gesture to the importers in Nnewi, Aba and Port Harcourt in the nearest future, aimed at improving and providing quality services for Nigerian economic growth.
“Onitsha is the biggest market in Nigeria, after Lagos and the biggest in South East, and most of the containers that come to Onne end in Onitsha. This is the first time we want to come to the importers in Onitsha, thanked them for the patronage and doing business with us.
“We know that the importers only deal with the agents, and the agents come to us, they don’t know us. We try to bring ourselves very close to the importers so that they will know people they are paying for the services.
“We want to be available to attend to their challenge, problems and proffer solutions when they come. Bringing containers is a huge investment, now that the air freight is very high, to import one container involved a huge capital.
“We try to see how we can help them to avert some unnecessary delays that can lead to demurrages and storages, to and also to assist them so that they can have speedy clearance of their containers,” Okogbue added.
He enumerated some of its numerous services including modern container handling capacity and providing the catalyst for economic growth in the area, adding that it berthed 17,000 containers in March this year alone.
He said the expanding terminal also serve companies that brings in bulk cargoes, launched e-commerce to enhance easy way of doing business, especially on payment receipts with everything now done online.
According to him, the terminal, a multinational company operating in 33 terminals worldwide and more than 22 countries with head office in Philippines is the fastest terminal in West Africa and oldest terminal in the east has four berths, which means they can position four vessels at the same time.
MSC Floriana, a vessel belonging to the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), berthed at the terminal located at Berths 9-11 at Federal Ocean Terminal, Onne Port on May 2 and offloaded 1,297 containers.
OMT, is ideally placed to serve shipping lines and Nigeria’s importers and exporters. Backed by a financially strong investor, OMT is a state-of-the-art facility with 750 meters of deep-water quay, 22 hectares of yard area, two of the biggest mobile harbour cranes in Nigeria, ample yard equipment and the latest IT systems powering operations and planning.
BusinessDay understands that OMT will be one of the first terminals worldwide implementing a cloud-based terminal operating system.
To spur growth in Onne as a multipurpose port in Nigeria’s Eastern region which is already an oil and gas powerhouse and is now fast emerging as a logistics hub, OMT plans to invest in further container handling equipment, IT, oil and gas and other general cargo handling equipment, warehouses, workshops, better access roads and modern health and safety facilities and processes.
Berths 9-11 had been languishing, lying virtually unused for the last decade. Now, in partnership with NPA, OMT is bringing the area to life, adding capacity and competition to Onne Port. This is sorely needed as the port is currently experiencing acute congestion with respect to container traffic.
In 2020, ICTSI signed a contract with the Nigerian Ports Authority to manage, operate and develop terminal facilities at Berths 9-11, Federal Ocean Terminal, Onne Port. The terminal commenced operations in the first half of 2021.
