Tuesday 12 June 2018

MAERSK PLANS TO BOOST AGRICULTURAL EXPORTATION IN NIGERIA

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has said that the management of A.P. Moller-Maersk, has concluded plans to boost the exportation of agricultural products in the country. 

Onyeama disclosed this after a meeting with Maersk Chief Executive Officer, Soren Skou, on the sideline of the African-Nordic Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Maersk, a key player in the shipping sector, has been engaged in Nigeria, with shipping activities in Lagos and Onne ports.

Onyeama further said Maersk is one of the main shippers into Nigeria and were interested in getting more involved in inland port, including refrigeration of warehousing of goods.

“One of the challenges that we face in the country, especially in the agricultural area, is moving agricultural products. A very large percentage of our agricultural products don’t make it to the market because the cultivation of them is a real challenge. So, they have the experience and the wherewithal and ready to invest in that side of their business.

“For us, that will be a real game changer since we are now diversifying much more into agriculture and looking to export more agricultural products, to have this facility of being able to preserve agricultural products and move them to market is very important,” Onyeama said.

Speaking earlier, Skou said the meeting with Onyeama was constructive in discussing many of the company’s activities in Nigeria. 

“We are big part of the trade infrastructure in Nigeria. We operate two ports in Nigeria, in Onne and in Lagos and we provide container services to and from the world to Nigeria. So, we discussed development opportunities, new investments and we also discussed few changes,” Skou said.

Skou further said Maersk had been on the shipping and port side, but is very much interested in going further to inland in order to extend its reach.

“We want to extend our reach. We have been on shipping side and port side, we have to go further inland to invest in dry port, inland logistics services in Nigeria,” Skou added. (Sun)



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