Monrovia – The National Port Authority has started the process of saving millions of United States dollars that government used to spend on tugboats aiding ships night docking at the Port due to the lack of Aids to Navigation.
Aids to Navigation can provide a ship with the same type of information drivers get from street signs, stop signals, road barriers, detours and traffic lights.
These aids may be anything from lighthouses, to minor lights, day-beacons, range lights, and sound signals, to lighted or unlighted buoys.
Each has a purpose and helps in determining location, getting from one place to another or staying out of danger. The goal of the Aids to navigation System is to promote safe navigation on the waterway.
For the past thirty (30) years Liberia has not had the system of aids navigations at the port. The Country was spending more money on tugboats to assist ships landing at the Port.
The cost of tugboats fees is around US$ 40,000 depending on the size of the ship needed to be docked at the Port.
With the introduction of the Aids to Navigation at the Free Port of Monrovia, Management of the Port will now save Millions of dollars that were previously spend on tugboats which in the past thirty years aided ships docked at the port.
The management of the Port Thursday commissioned the aids to navigation and contingency fuel unloading facility in the Freeport of Monrovia.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf cutting the ribbon at the commissioning ceremony urged the management of the port to continue the development process being started, saying that she looks forward to the Freeport of Monrovia being a first class port in the region.
“It is time to get it done; we want this port to be among the first class port in the region. The development process that has started should speed up; we want the work completed before the end of 2017,” she noted in her remarks.
President Sirleaf at the program said she was impressed with the level of development ongoing at the Port, saying due to the deplorable condition of the port at the time prompted government to find partners like APM terminals that had the resources to rebuild the Port.
“APM Terminals was the company that won the bid to develop the port, before that time our workers at the Port were complaining that they never had the attention they needed and today the Dock Workers Association and shipping Association have all made tremendous efforts in making the progress and change at the port.” she noted.
The President thanked both the NPA and LPRC Managing Directors for working together to transform the Port to what it is now. The Liberian leader also thanked the APM Terminals for partnering to make the port better.
The President hoped that the NPA will get the cooperation from the necessary partners to carry out the transformation at the Port.
The Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA), David F. Williams described the commissioning of the aids to navigation and contingency fuel unloading facility as milestone of the accomplishment of government development agenda.
Said Mr. Williams: “The aids to navigation and the contingency fuel unloading facility are significant for the accomplishment of government’s agenda.
The contingency of fuel oil and facilities provide government redundancy and alternate to continue the supply of petroleum products on the local market.”
Mr. Williams said the contingency fuel unloading facility was jointly paid for by the Managements of the NPA and the LPRC. “We will like to thank the LPRC management for the collaboration and cordial working relationship.”
He said the financing by the NPA and installation of the aids to navigation represents not only a milestone accomplishment by the government but is also a major leap in government’s strive to boost regionally, competitive and efficient.
He noted that the commissioning of the aids to navigation sets the stage for the Port of Monrovia to transition from a twelve (12) hours port operations to twenty-four operations for the first time in thirty (300 years.
He called on all stakeholders including Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), BIVAC and APM Terminals to be ready to provide the necessary services at the Port, saying, this mean more trade and commerce and a boost to the Liberian economy.
He thanked the APM Terminals for prepaying the cost to purchase and install aids to navigation saying that the NPA has already repaid the total cost through it royalty deduction.
Speaking earlier, the Managing Director of the Liberia petroleum Company (LPRC), Sumo Kupee thanked the NPA management for the collaboration, saying the project would not have been successful without the joint collaboration with the APM Terminals.
He described the collaboration as a clear indication of advantages of interagency collaboration, the two managements and the APM Terminals did it for the Liberian people.
For his part, the Managing Director of APM Terminals, George Adejei said the aids to navigation will make nine times vessels movement possible. He said it will bring great benefits to the shipping community in Liberia.
He said operators of vessels will benefit from a quick turnaround of their vessels and noted that APM Terminals is now equipped to dock and sail vessels at any time of the day.
The APM Terminal boss noted that this will reduce the cost of doing business in the Freeport of Monrovia. “Above all else, we at APM believe that the Aids to Navigation will create generational legacy, because with shorter port stay, the vessels calling the Freeport of Monrovia will produce less carbon dioxide and thereby will leave a much cleaner atmosphere for our generations to come,” he said.
He added that APM is on track to deliver all of its obligations and commitments stipulated in the concession agreement with the government of Liberia.
“In person of the objective of this directive, we are aggressively working on the delivery of the state-of-the-art alongside modernization project as evidence of the ongoing pavement work that is ongoing at the port.
The APM Terminal boss said by the close of the project in June next year, the company will have invested one hundred-eight Million United States Dollars for the development of the Freeport of Monrovia.
He assured Liberia of APM Terminals’ commitment of going beyond the agreement and actively collaborating with the NPA in seeking ways of making the Freeport of Monrovia the gate way to the Liberian economy.
Edwin G. Genoway, Jr (231886458910)[email protected]