Seven years, after procuring the 50 billion Naira Modular Floating Dock, by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), is yet to be deployed for the industry use.

 The facility is currently lying idle at the Nantí Jetty, Snake Island, Apapa, Lagos while the industry continues to lose several billions of naira annually to neighbouring countries where they dry docked their ocean-going vessels.

The floating dock, which can handle up to 10,000 metric tons of vessels, was purchased in 2018 but has since been floating at anchorage, as NIMASA was still unable to get an operational base to berth the facility. The floating dock had been removed from the Lloyd’s Registers Class because it could not be surveyed for three years.

Maritime experts have argued that floating docks or craft should be dry-docked every two and a half years to maintain their sea worthiness.

Speaking on the abandoned projects, the National President of the National Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), Capt Tajudeen Alao, also corroborated Adeniyi, saying NIMASA has no business procuring the floating dock. According to him, he also raised alarm that the floating dock would sink soon as it has not been drydocked or cleaned in the last few years.

“First of all, the government has no business in procuring a floating dock at all. So, they should identify capable people, master mariners and marine engineers to sponsor them, to acquire the right type of floating dock, which they will own. The government went into it, and then remember I keep saying that the money they are using is not the government’s money; it’s the stakeholders’ money, which they should give as a loan to the stakeholders to promote the industry.

“So, that means that they went to buy the floating dock based on political decisions for Okerenkoko then, another government came after they brought it and decided not to take it to Okerenkoko for reasons best known to them and it ended up as a big loss for many years. 

“The thing is, every floating dock, according to the law, must be dry docked twice in five years, meaning every two and a half years, any floating or craft must be cleaned.  Since that craft was built, stayed in Europe, brought back to Nigeria and kept in Nigeria for close to 7 years, it hasn’t been drydocked. So, the floating dock is not supposed to be floating anymore, otherwise, it will sink.”It should either be towed back to Europe to dock or they do underwater cleaning and examination of all the valves and things like that,” Capt. Alao stated.

Also speaking, an indigenous shipowner, Capt. Deji Abegunde asked the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to commercially use the dockyard or transfer it to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to manage. “The floating dock, they’re supposed to commercialise it. Give that thing out to, perhaps, if they don’t want to use Nigerians, because of maybe our fraudulent character, they can give that to NPA. Let NPA, another federal government, take over.   

“NPA has dockyards. If they cannot sell it out, then they should give it to them or the Navy. The Navy is there, even though the Navy, too, instead of going more into hydrographic, they have their dock, then they can give it to the Naval dockyard.  NIMASA is not supposed to be involved in such. Venture.
“We used to go to Tema; mostly we use Tema when we go to Tema for dry dock, we see lots of Nigerian vessels there. I don’t know who sold that idea of Floating Dock to them,” he said.

On his part, the former national president of the Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association; Capt. Thomas Kemewerigha said for keeping the floating dock idle for years, the federal government should arrest and arraign some officials of NIMASA for being involved in economic wastage.