The President of the Ship Owners’ Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Engr. Greg Ogbeifun has said that efforts should not be on the change of the Nigeria’s terms of trade rather the Federal Government should focus more on the establishment of the national fleet that meets international standard and can trade anywhere in the world and can be competitive commercially.
Ogbeifun who made this assertion while fielding questions from journalists on the sideline of the inauguration of the newly elected SOAN executives in Lagos stated that it did not matter to the members of that association whether the policy was Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) or Free On Board (FOB) adding that their goal was to establish an international trading fleet that would meet international standard.
According to him,” We in SOAN do not think whether the policy is CIF or FOB will make any difference to us. Our goal is to establish an international trading fleet that will meet international standard which means the fleet of international going vessels that we are dreaming of are such that will trade anywhere in the world.
“Let us bring it home to your question, NNPC today sells crude on FOB basis and I know NNPC does not determine whose vessel is used to carry the crude. It is the buyer of the crude that determines whose vessel he is going to use which means that if SOAN today in collaboration with NNPC and other stakeholders is able to put together a fleet of very good crude carriers meeting international best practices and that ship is comparable in specification, in standard and in commercial terms with any other one anywhere in the world, if I am in Nigeria and I am a crude buyer in the world and I am looking for a vessel to carry my crude from Nigeria to my destination and I see a SOAN Nigerian flagged ship anchored off Escravous that meets the same standard that every other ship that is required to participate in that trade meets, it will make more sense for me to charter that ship in Escravous to immediately pick up my cargo.
“So, irrespective of whether we are selling our crude on FOB or CIF, the focus should not be change that policy, the focus should be to establish a fleet that meets international standard and can trade anywhere in the world and can be competitive commercially”.
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