The Onne Multipurpose Terminal (OMT) says it has received the “largest container ship ever” to carry out full operations at Nigeria’s eastern ports.
The vessel christened ‘Kota Cempaka’, owned by Pacific International Lines (PIL), is 300 metres long, and can carry 6,600 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers.
According to Jim Stewart, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at OMT, this is the second visit of the ship to the terminal in three months.
Stewart said the vessel was received on August 5 by the officials of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and OMT.
He said the ship’s first visit to the port was on April 27 when it loaded and discharged over 2,000 containers full of Nigerian imports and exports.
“The arrival of such large vessels is part of a global trend where shipping lines are upscaling vessel sizes to achieve economies of scale and reduce transport costs for importers and exporters,” Stewart said.
Stewart said the visit of the Kota Cempaka to Nigeria would support the efforts of the federal government to diversify the country’s economic base by boosting non-oil exports.
