Mercury Maritime Concession Company Limited and Port of Antwerp have announced a collaboration to build a $2.9bn Escravos Seaport Industrial Complex.
Speaking at a briefing in Lagos at the Sailing Club exhibition race 2021, the Chairman of MMCC, Rear Admiral Andrews Okoja (retd), said the Escravos seaport would include a deep seaport, international airport, Free Trade Zone, crude oil refinery, gas complex, an estate, and recreational components.
Okoja said, “When we got our provisional approval, one of the first things we are supposed to do is to put together a team of consultant financiers and partners.
“They have visited us and signed a partnership paper agreement with us on this project. They came to Lagos, and they have other programmes with Delta State. We intend to continue our relationship with Port of Antwerp International on this particular project.”
Noting that the project is in two phases, ESIC 1 and ESIC 2, he explained that ESIC 1 is the seaport complex, which is the backbone of the project while the ESIC2 would open up the waterway transportation from Escravos seaport into the hinterland via River Niger and Benue and other regions such as Onitsha, Lokoja, Makurdi, and others.
The Managing Director of Port of Antwerp, Kristof Watershoot, said, “At Antwerp Port International, we are very convinced in the general potential future of the whole region, especially for Nigeria. We are convinced of the future of a new port project in this country.
“As we met with the team of MMCC on several occasions, we will start working together with the team on further developing the Escravos seaport project together with other partners, and there are a lot of them available.”
Financial Street learnt that the seaport was conceptualised as a modern deep seaport that will handle container roll-on/roll-off vessels, specialised and general cargo ships.
