A New Dawn: Largest Containerships to have entered Nigerian Waters berths at Onne Port.

The Biggest container ship to have entered Nigerian waters “Maerskline Stardelhorn” was berth in Onne Port Port Harcourt on Saturday, 15th of August, 2020. It marks a new dawn as the ship is the largest containership to have entered Nigerian Waters.

The Nigerian Ports Authority on Saturday announced the successful berthing in Onne Port, Rivers state, of the biggest container ship to ever call at any Nigerian port.

The massive container ship was received at the Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT), at 1620 hours.

The five year old MAERSK Ship “STADELHORN” with IMO: 9726671 was built in 2015 (5 years ago) and is sailing under the flag of Singapore.

It’s carrying capacity is 10000 TEU and her current draught is reported to be 11.2 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 299.92 meters and her width is 48.28 meters.

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The ship is believed to have being diverted to Port Harcourt to decongest the Lagos ports which is already crowded.

How it all started:

The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT)- Onne Port Complex, Rivers State, had received a massive containership which was the largest containership ever to visit a seaport outside the Lagos area after about 12 years of the concession. The ship JPO Volans which measured 265 meters in length was berth at the port in December, 2019.

WACT had successfully handled two massive containerships earlier this year.

One of the large gearless containership deployed by leading Far Eastern shipping line, Pacific International Lines (PIL). The PIL gearless vessel named KOTA KASTURI had a capacity of 3,081 TEU (twenty equivalent units of containers).

Before now, only the ports in Lagos were able to handle such class of vessels in Nigeria.

It is believed that the berthing of the containerships supports the desire of Federal Government to open up ports outside the Lagos area to create new opportunities and possibilities for importers and exporters in the Eastern part of Nigeria.

It is a welcomed development and is effectively creating an alternative to the Lagos ports, which before now were the only ports handling such class of vessels in Nigeria.

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