APM Terminals and its consortium of partners have announced plans to develop a new mega-port project and Free Trade Zone at Badagry in Lagos State. The first phase of the project is scheduled to open in 2016.
Also Plans for the adjoining Badagry Free Trade Zone will include a power plant, oil refinery, industrial park and warehousing and Inland Container Deport functions.
On completion, the deep-water full-service port will be one of the largest in Africa with seven km of quay and 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) of dedicated yard, and will include state-of the art facilities for container, bulk, liquid bulk, Ro/Ro and general cargo as well as oil and gas operations support and a barge terminal.
Chief Executive Officer, APM Terminals Africa-Middle East Regional, Peder Sondergaard, said that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Lagos State and the Federal Government have been supportive and positive on the project and that it was urgently on the permission process.
Currently, the Benin-Lagos Expressway is being upgraded to a 10-lane highway which will facilitate cargo movements to and from inland destinations in the region.
APM Terminals is one of the largest port and terminal operators in Africa, with nine facilities in eight West African nations, including Apapa Container Terminal, and West Africa Container Terminal in Onne, Nigeria.
APM Terminals Apapa, which assumed operations atLagos’ Apapa Container Terminal in 2006 is now the busiest container terminal in West Africa, handling 600,000 TEUs in 2011 with through-put for 2012 projected to be 720,000 TEUs.
The Badagry consortium partnership is comprised of APM Terminals, Orlean Invest, the Macquarie Group, Oando PLC, the Chagoury Group and Terminal Investment Limited.
Support for the project has also been expressed by the Nigerian Ports Authority, and the Governor of Lagos State.