The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on Monday said that the first RoRo vessel expected by the Rivers Port in Port Harcourt had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The General Manager Corporate and Strategic Communications of NPA, Mr Adams Jatto, said in in Lagos that the vessel, which was supposed to have come in by April, has not been able to make it, and there is no definite date for its arrival the country.
“This vessel is a special cargo which has to do with vehicles and, maybe, they could not get people to load them.
“We are still in touch with them to get updates,” he said.
Recall that on March 15, the NPA, in its bid to improve vessel traffic to the Eastern Ports, said that the Rivers Port was expecting its first Roll on/Roll off (RoRo) operations.
Jatto had said that the first RoRo Vessel to berth in the history of the Rivers Port was scheduled to depart the United States of America in the middle of March and arrive Port Harcourt at the end of March or early April.
He had said that the introduction of RoRo operations would in no small measure increase the revenue base of Rivers Port in particular and NPA as a whole.
Jatto had indicated that the move was traceable to intentional commitment and landmark reforms that the current management of the NPA had instituted toward ensuring that all ports in Nigeria became optimally functional.
By Tanko Mohammed
