Sifax Group acquires N7.3bn Harbour Cranes

Abiola Seun

Indigenous terminal operator, Sifax Group, on Tuesday said it has ordered for four harbour cranes worth €18 million (N7.3 billion at a prevailing rate of N406/€) for expansion of the company.

The group which also in the oil & gas, aviation, haulage and logistics which also announced a five year strategic plan in it’s quest for future development.

Addressing journalists in Lagos during a Mid-Year briefing, the Group Managing Director, Mr. Adekunle Abdulrazak Oyinloye explained that the five year strategic plan was critical to the increased numbers of bonded terminals that the company currently has.

The company disclosed that it ordered for four harbour cranes at €4.5m each to complement it’s existing five harbour cranes at the seaports.

According to Mr. Oyinloye, “Aside the increased numbers of bonded terminals, more hands have come onboard to join the Sifax Group project under the five year strategic plan.
“The plan is, what do we want to be in five years time? It is on account of this that we also veered into financial services sector with Sky Capital Financing Limited to primarily support the Sifax Group project.

“We are also investing in new equipments to make cargo handling more seamless at the ports. Very soon, four more harbour cranes will be arriving to complement the existing five at Port & Cargo Handling Services (P&CHS). Each harbour cranes cost averagely €4.5m.”

He also informed that the Sifax Group is looking at investing in the hospitality business, with a five-star hotel soon to berth in the Ikeja area of Lagos by the first quarter of 2020.
Speaking on some of the challenges faced by the company despite huge investment within the port area, Oyinloye explained that, “Our major challenge still remain access road to the port, and we wish the road repair work can be hastened up.

“The access road has slowed down activities at the ports. Also in the first half of the year, the labour unrest at the ports that led to a three-day shut down didn’t help our cause either.
“The congestion at the ports in the early part of the year was because of the bad state of the access roads and the labour unrest. If cleared cargoes cannot exit the ports due to bad state of the access roads, newer ones will find it difficult to come in. Port operations is premised on space.
“We will also wish that government can think beyond the road to link the Tin-Can island port by rail.”

Also speaking during the briefing, the Managing Director of P&CHS, Mr. John Jenkins explained that the company handled 275teus less of cargoes compared to what was handled in 2018.

In his words, “Due to the congestion suffered in the early part of the year, we are currently short of 275teus of cargoes compared to what we handled by Mid-Year of 2018.

“On empty containers, which is obviously a challenge, we ship between 3000 to 4000teus of empty containers on a weekly basis. The state of the roads is very challenging for the containers to go out or come back in.”