National Fleet: Stakeholder warns shipowners against reliance on CVFF

Abiola Seun

Expert in the Nigerian maritime industry has warned Indigenous shipowners that the $124million dollar accrued into the Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF) cannot establish the planned national fleet.

Speaking recently in Lagos, a shipping expert ,Iloka Elvis said the industry would need more than the accrued fund to setup a shipping line.

Recall that the CVFF was created by the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act, 2003, otherwise known as the Cabotage Act, to aid local shipping lines in the acquisition of ships and platforms for purposes of trading in the country’s waters.

The fund has grown to $124 million, according to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), which is the custodian of the fund on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation.

Director General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside had recently, in Norway, said the federal government had concluded plans to re-establish a national fleet many years after the Nigerian National Shipping Line went into extinction.

Peterside said Nigerian investors would own 51 per cent stake in the national shipping line, while a technical partner would own 49 per cent. Before now, Nigerian shipowners had called on NIMASA to disburse the CVFF, or use it to set up the planned national fleet.

But, Elvis said Nigerian investors who want to own the national shipping line should look beyond the CVFF.

He said, “Establishing a shipping do take much more fund that what we think we have in the CVFF and considering the length of time it will take to bring the shipping into operation and with the kind of speed we are seeing, I do not think many investors would think we are serious.

“We have very few business-wise shipowners right now. So, to make this work, we should look beyond those we think are shipowners or industry players because many of them cannot invest in this national shipping line.”