Nigerian shipowners said to head to Ghana dockyards

Nigerian shipowners  have abandoned  the country’s dockyards and headed to Ghana’s dockyards, according to a Nigerian publication, the Vanguard.

The Vanguard reports that Nigerian shipowners have abandoned ship repair facilities and other dockyards in that country for Ghanaian dockyards because the dockyards in Nigeria are inadequate and use obsolete equipment and the staff are not well trained.

The report cited one Jonathan Irafor, who is the Managing Director of Luxem Energy Limited saying that Nigerian shipowners have preference for Ghanaian dockyards because of the modern equipment Ghanaians use in carrying out repair works on vessels.

According to Irafor ship repairs in Nigeria take a much longer time than what is obtained in Ghana adding that it could take as much as three to four months to carry out repair works on a vessel in Nigeria, while it takes between two and four weeks in Ghana.

“Most of our vessels in Nigeria go to Ghana for repairs and dry docking, the Naval dockyard, Nigerdock  and the Starz dock yards are not enough to meet the needs of Nigerian shipowners.

“At the Naval dockyard, if you go there, you spend three to four months for you to leave that dock, the equipment are not up to date so most of the vessel owners go to Ghana to dock their vessel and that is another area of capital flight,” he said.

He was also cited as saying Nigerian dockyards use obsolete equipment and the workers are not well trained.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi