West African Container Terminals (WACT) are part of the APM Terminal Group and operate the Onne Port in Nigeria. Onne is in the eastern river region, and is central to servicing the oil & gas sectors there. The terminal is regarded as an important alternative to Apapa (in Lagos) as it has excellent roads, less congestion, a streamlined payment structure and is also part of a free-trade zone.
The Nigeria Port Authorities have recently improved ship traffic flow by dredging the river; they also removed shipwrecks and widened the channel – meaning that in 2013 a 4500 TEUs capacity vessel was able to berth at WACT for the first time. Types of containers handled by the Port include 20ft and 40ft flat racks, open top, dry and wet, tanks, out of gauge (OOG), high and normal containers.
A fleet of 12 Terberg YT182Terminal Tractors, provided and serviced by Paterson Simons, work in tandem with reach stackers to move 220 000 TEUs from point of berth to point of exit every year. WACT have ordered in another four, which will be commissioned in August 2014.
The location of Onne (you can only fly in from Lagos) places a high demand on machinery maintenance and parts supply. In partnership with our principle Terberg we have further improved the operational expectation of the units by making slight adaptations to the engine and limiting the amount of electronics.