Harbour masters
Maritime transport is a vital part of the logistics chain in West Africa and Sifax Group of Lagos, Nigeria, is positioning itself to play a part in the oil and gas driven boom that is taking place there. John OÔÇÖHanlon spoke to deputy managing director Captain Luc Deruyver.
Congestion is an on-off fact of life in the busy ports of West Africa. In general, conditions had improved over the first half of 2009 but at the time of writing, 52 ships were reported to be waiting to enter the port of Lagos. This is NigeriaÔÇÖs busiest port, indeed one of the largest in the African continent, and like most large ports it comprises a large number of wharves and terminals. The container terminal is at Apapa, to the west of the network of creeks that cross the city, and this is where Sifax Group has had its headquarters since 1988. The company has also had a storage yard at Tin Can Island since 2002 and a port concession since 2006.
Sifax offers offloading, storage, logistics and forwarding services to its customers, the major international freight shipping lines. It also handles security matters, ship chartering and freight consolidation. In fact, says deputy managing director Captain Luc Deruyver, itÔÇÖs a full service provider that can put together any package a shipper might need in the rather complex and specialised commercial environment that prevails in Nigeria.
For Lagos is a regional, not just a national port. Nigeria is awash with oil money and engaging in a massive programme of house building and infrastructure improvement fuelled by government grants and increasingly, private equity. The country continues to rely heavily on imported building materials and componentsÔÇöit is reported that at least 70 per cent of the fabric and finish of a building is not locally produced. Oil discoveries off Ghana in 2007 have kicked off a boom there that will keep West Africa in fast growth mode for the foreseeable future.
Over the last five years, NigeriaÔÇÖs economy grew steadily at six per cent, and even in the first quarter of 2009 it grew by almost five per cent. From SifaxÔÇÖs point of view, the effect on trade from the global downturn has not been significant, says Deruyver. ÔÇ£There was a bit of a drop at the beginning of the year but business has picked up quickly in the last twelve weeks; the trend seems to be improving and I think it will be business as usual by the end of this year. We are banking on the Nigerian economy continuing to outperform Europe and the USA.ÔÇØ
Containers are the core of SifaxÔÇÖs business, he explains. ÔÇ£We do have some general cargoÔÇöbulk salt, rice and the likeÔÇöcoming through our hands but containers and steel are our specialities.ÔÇØ These are cargoes that are comparatively easy to handle, offering large tonnage with small volume.
Congestion and the fact that space is at a premium at Apapa means that Sifax differentiates itself as an operator by its ability not only to unload ships quickly but to move the goods to its adjacent storage facilities and then get them out of the port as quickly as possible. Its groupage warehouse at the port can hold more than 8,200 tonnes and its total cargo storage space exceeds 21,000 tonnes. Its recent concession at Tin Can portÔÇÖs Terminal C and its bonded terminal give it capacity for 10,286 containers.
On the general cargo side, Sifax has 795 metres of wharves for unloading general cargo and roll-on-roll-off (ro-ro) vessels, as well as the container ships. Space on the dockside is the big issue, Deruyver says, and to address it the company is investing in RTGsÔÇörubber tyred gantriesÔÇöto replace its reach stackers. This will add a valuable 30 per cent in capacity to the available space on the wharf, he says.
The service that Sifax provides doesnÔÇÖt stop at the port gate. Its fleet of 35 trucks moves goods up-country as quickly as the road network allows. The main storage area is located in Apapa, close to the port complex, but the company also has representative and warehousing capacity in Abuja.
To run such a diverse range of operations, Sifax needs a highly skilled workforce, explains Deruyver. Known in the business as ÔÇÿMr ShippingÔÇÖ, Deruyver has done every job in sea and land freight, and sets great store by training. ÔÇ£Our Nigerian staff are keen to work and to learn. We train our people at all levels, in-house or wherever is most appropriate. One of our advantages is our network of contacts in every kind of freight operation.ÔÇØ
Sifax compensates for the deficiencies of NigeriaÔÇÖs installed communications networks by using GPS mobile and having its own internal radio links between depots. ÔÇ£We have a fully computerised container tracking system and all the IT back-up that our customers are used to when they ship into any port in the world.ÔÇØ
Meanwhile, competition is hotting up in the region. Tema and Takoradi ports in Ghana are seeing increasing levels of traffic and investment. The port of Cotonou in Benin, sandwiched between Ghana and Nigeria and less than 100 miles from Lagos, is also strategically placed; and since the French group Bollor├® paid Ôé¼15 million for the concession to manage and develop Cotonou, operators like Sifax will face much more competition. Cotonou is already Benin's major income earner, accounting for 90 per cent of external exchanges and more than 60 per cent of GDP.
Sifax has invested $30 million in the purchase of new shore cranes, terminal tractors and other dockside equipment and has committed a further $11 million to container handling facilities (including road trucks), with the object of creating a real trans-shipment hub for the region, one that will keep Lagos ahead of its neighbours in the race to capture regional traffic, says Deruyver. ÔÇ£We can now take in the largest vessels coming from Europe, USA and the Far East, offload them and reload onto smaller ships to serve the local ports along the West African coast. That is part of our business model and it rests on the skill of our staff and the ability to clear the cargo very quickly.ÔÇØ
If the road network in West Africa were much better, the logistics functions of a freight handling company would be easier; but the dependence on sea transport, partly traditional, partly the result of ongoing development problems throughout the region, is another reason for the critical importance of a port like Lagos. Its diversityÔÇöeven its congestionÔÇöare tokens of its prosperity and a true opportunity for Sifax and its leadership.
