Onitsha River port receives commercial barges

One year after taking over the management of Onitsha River Port, Universal Elysium Consortium Limited, the concessionaires of Onitsha River Port, has reached an important milestone when it formally received its first barge at the Port.

It started receiving barges on the 16th of August 2023, according to the Managing Director, Dr. George Nwangwu.

This was contained in a statement to The Nation in Abuja at the weekend.

It noted that the barge was fully handled by the crew of Onitsha River Port.

The barge that arrived Onitsha Port, he said, is a consignment of tiles from Ajaokuta to Onitsha.

The Managing director also added that it is expected that this is going to be a weekly occurrence going forward as the consignees of the goods would now move 600 tons of tiles to Onitsha every week and take 600 tons of clay back to Ajaokuta.

Speaking, the General Manager of Onitsha River Port, Wannes De Wit, also expressed his happiness on reaching this very important milestone.

According to him, the activity helped take more than 70 trucks off the busy roads and this was only possible and achievable because of the higher water level in the river Niger during the rainy season. According to the General Manager, this only happens for 6 months in a year due to the low water levels in the Rive Niger during the dry season.

He however pleaded with the Federal Government to dredge the river channel so that goods can be moved through the river channel all year round as this would have immense benefits to the country. The Managing Director paid tribute to the operations team at the Port which consists of the supervisors, dockers, crane operators, and forklift operators who really put in immense effort to ensure the operation was seamless and successful.

According to the MD, the goal of the company is to continue to strive to make Onitsha Port great despite all the challenges.