February 16, 2016
The Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) base and Samsung Heavy Industries have invested $400 million in a vessel fabrication and integration yard in Lagos, The Nation has learnt.
Additional $200 million will also be injected in the yard in the next few months.
The yard, it was gathered, has the capacity for Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) integration and conversion.
The $600 million LADOL free zone within the Apapa Pilotage District is a world-class facility. Access to the place is restricted.
It has extensive infrastructure and equipment layout, making it an ideal environment for vessel integration, offshore oil and gas mega-fabrication, pipe coating, engineering and agricultural processing centre.
The facility is fenced round with adequate lighting, close circuit television (CCTV) and port pass. Security operatives patrol the base.
A senior official of the Federal Ministry of Transport (FMoT) told The Nation that the base, a wholly indigenous organisation, has created jobs in the offshore logistics sector. On completion, he added, it will promote local content.
LADOL, the official said, has the biggest vessel fabrication and integration yard in the region, with capacity for FPSO integration and conversion, top-side FPSO modula fabrication, large offshore fabrication and range of general steel construction at a rate of 10MT per year. LADOL has also expanded its fabrication capacity from 10,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes to service FPSO, oil rigs, ship repairs and maintenance.
“The move is to concentrate on mega oil and gas and maritime fabrication jobs for West Africa in the country. Several countries in Africa, such as Sao Tome, South Africa, Ghana, Angola, Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea currently look up to the facility for the discharge of oil and gas cargoes.
“The issue of security risks in the business of discharging oil and gas cargo has been addressed by the promoters of the facility because they have complied with the International Ships and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) code which is being implemented in the country by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
“The width and draft of the Lagos channel which is now around 13.5 meters makes it possible for the base to handle FPSO operations. The minimum 600 meters radius for turning basin for FPSO operation has already been addressed
“Also, the fear that the facility would create an un-conducive operating atmosphere to terminal operators and that the economic interest of other users of the channel may be jeopardised, are mere delusion and figment of imagination of those raising the issues.
To make the nation’s ports Africa’s hub, improve LADOL, it was gathered, has acquired giant cranes described as the first in the country.
The acquisition of the equipment, may lead to a “vigorous market share battle” in the maritime and oil and gas industry.
An official working at the facility who identified himself as Mr Sunday said: “It is certainly something that has been needed for quite some time. It will bring more business to the port and more work hours for those engaging in the maritime trade. In future, the larger cranes may require rail lines and that the channel be widened and deepen by the NPA so that modern larger vessels can transit the waterway.”
The cranes, he said, were imported, to take care of heavy industries machines and other equipment that are needed in the maritime and oil and gas industry.
“The cranes were also purchased to attract big vessels and heavy cargo. The company is ready to deal with big capacity vessels that would bring in oil and gas cargoes, automobile parts, and heavy industrial materials,” he said.
LADOL Managing Director, Dr Army Jadesimi said the free trade zone would provide 5,000 jobs inside the company; 100,000 would be created outside the base.
“LADOL is the only 100per cent Nigerian logistics base owner in Nigeria and the only one to develop a facility from a zero value Greenfield NPA site into a $600 million world class base,” she said.
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