The study investigated the performance of individual classification societies in the Abuja Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Port States Control (PSC) with a view to providing empirical evidence and information on the levels and rates of change of inspected ships, detained ships, and deficient ships recorded by PSC Officers for ships certified and classed by individual classification societies. The study estimated the average deficiency to inspection ratio (ADIR) and mean detention to inspection ratio (MDIR) for ships certified and classed by identified individual classification societies in the Abuja MoU regime. Secondary data covering the period between 2015 and 2020 sourced from the database of the Abuja MoU administration was used. The findings indicated that Germanischer Lloyds, CCS-China, KRS-Korea, NNK-Japan, RMRS-Russia, Lloyds Register, London, Bureau Veritas, Det Norsk Veritas, ABS-USA, and RINA-Italy have better performance with regards to maritime safety in the Abuja MoU regime, as shown by the MDIR scores. Thus, they dominated ship-owners’ preference for ship classification in West and Central African waters between 2015 and 2020. The trend of ship detention following compromised seaworthiness in the jurisdiction of the Abuja MoU on PSC for vessels certified by the International Naval Survey Bureau (INSB), CCS-China, Germanischer Lloyds (GL), International Register of Ships, Lloyds Register of Ships (LR), and NKK-Japan have negative coefficients of average rate of change, which indicates a decreasing trend in the number of vessels detained between 2015 and 2020; the rest of the classification societies, with positive coefficients of average rate of change, show an increasing trend in the number of ships detained for deficiencies that compromised seaworthiness; classified and registered by each classification society. Vessels classified by GL with ADIR of 0.034 (3.4 %) showed the least likelihood of having safety defaults and deficiency. It is recommended that the performance of poorly performing classification societies in upholding maritime safety standards should be improved. This implies that classification societies with average deficiency to inspection ratios (ADIR) of higher than 0.10 (10 %) should be reduced, while classification societies with mean detention to inspection ratios (MDIR) of 0.01 (1 %) and higher should be reduced.
Travelers along the Onne-seaport to Eleme-junction road corridor in the hub of the oil and gas industry in Port-Harcourt, Nigeria, have continued to experience very serious traffic congestion travel time delays, culminating into loss of man-hours and declining productivity. This study estimated the economic cost of traffic congestion travel time delay along the corridor, with a view to providing economic justification for developing traffic management policies and road infrastructure, to remedy it. A mixed research approach was adopted in which data was sourced through field survey and from secondary sources. The gross output model was used to estimate the output losses occasioned by productive time losses related to traffic congestion. The study established that the average daily traffic congestion travel time delay along the traffic corridor by travelers in trucks, car, bus and taxi modes are 104.17 minutes, 46.60 minutes, 58.5 minutes and 56.4 minutes respectively. The estimated daily aggregate economic cost of output losses associated with traffic congestion time delay on the corridor is 46049809.8 naira (210923.5USD) for all modes. This justifies any investment in traffic congestion remedial strategies along the route.
The need to eliminate bottlenecks to port operations in Nigeria was a fundamental goal of the port privatization about 2 decades ago. Current trends in ports management; however, suggest existence of numerous inefficiency challenges reflected in long ship turnaround time, increasing trend of cargo dwell time, high cargo pilferage risk rate, poor condition of port infrastructure and superstructure, multiple charges and government agencies, cumbersome cargo clearance & examination procedures, port congestion related delays particularly in Apapa and Onne ports, etc. The study identifies the decisive port-related factors constraining the flow of shipping trade in Nigerian ports using a survey to obtain data on the influence of the identified factors on the flow of shipping trade in Nigerian ports. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to analyze the data obtained. The results indicate that high cargo pilferage risk profile, long ship turnaround time and increasing trend of cargo dwell time constitute the significant port-related factors constraining the flow of shipping in Nigerian ports. It can be concluded that terminal operators should prioritize solutions to the problems of high cargo pilferage risk profile, long ship turnaround time and increasing cargo dwell time, which constitute the major constraints to the flow of shipping trade.
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