The Nigeria government and the promoters of Ibom Deep Seaport have started looking for investors to help in the construction of the project located in the southern part of the country.
The Seaport (IDSP) will be situated in Akwa Ibom state within a licensed free trade zone.
The 2,565 hectares Greenfield port area is designed for New Panamax Class vessels with channel (18.24m); turning basin and berth depth (16.72m) and quay length of about 7.5 kilometres.
When fully developed, the container terminals will be able to accommodate up to 13 New Panamax Class container vessels and two very large feeder vessels.
The promoters of the project say that Ibom Deep Seaport offers an ultra-modern deep seaport with modern cargo handling equipment, facilities and systems that can address the capacity challenges constraining other seaports across the region.
The port will serve as the key maritime gateway for Nigeria, West and Central African region and hinterland countries.
Read:Report casts doubt on viability of Lekki deep sea port
Nigeria wants the port to be constructed under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) plan.
According to the promoters Ibom Deep Seaport offers international seaport developers, operators, investors as well as its potential for driving inclusive economic growth in Nigeria and the West and Central African sub-region.
“The Ibom Deep Seaport is in an enviable position to emerge as the first major transhipment hub for the region. The transhipment container market for the IDSP is estimated to grow from about 1.2 million TEUs in 2021 to about 4 million TEUs in 2040,” said the promoters in a statement.
Nigeria is also constructing another deep seaport in the Ibeju-Lekki axis of Lagos State. The multipurpose Lekki Deep Seaport will have a capacity to handle 2.5million TEUs in its first phase of operations.
After a fault start the promoters of the project Tolaram Group, an international private consortium says that the proposed multi-purpose Lekki Deep Seaport will commence full operations in 2020.