1.0 ARRIVAL
Delegates of both senior engineers and young engineers, led by the President, ASCE Nigeria Section, Engr. Rasheed Hassan FASCE arrived at the venue at 02:25pm. We were welcomed by the Head of Regulatory, Mr. Odibe Daniel at the Administrative Building, who expressed delight in having members of the society visit the port. He then led us to the conference room.
2.0 INDUSTRIAL VISIT TO LEKKI DEEP SEA PORT
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Nigeria Section held a technical visit to the Lekki Deep Sea Port at Lagos Free Zone.
The visit started with a brief orientation session by Mr. Odibe Daniel and Mr. Ogubunka Bethel. Mr. Daniel began by an introduction of all delegates present. He then went ahead with a presentation on the status of the ongoing project, preparations to commission by March 2023, Public-private Partnership arrangements and future plans of project expansion.
Next, all joined on a tour to the Lekki Free Port Terminal, with Oloyede Mathew, project architect of Lekki port serving as tour guide.
The Lekki Deep Sea Port is the first deep sea port in Nigeria and the deepest in West-Africa. The 90 hectares multi-purpose port, with 16.5m draught has a 600m diameter turning circle at the centre and an approach channel of 150m.
At the entry, there are portal scanners that can scan containers’ contents in 33 seconds.
The port construction involved use of large piles in loading and off-loading area. They were 41m deep tubular steel piles with 2.4m diameter. The dynamic compaction of the port took a total of 3 years for the first phase alone.
It consists of 20 buildings, and 3 substations for the 8 power plants rated at 2MW each. The Administrative buildings are energy efficient, with a remarkable flat roof having a waterproof membrane.
To cushion the effect of the waves in the basin, breakwater is provided. It consists of under layer, quay run, armored block, and X blocks - totaling 30,000 fabricated using sulphate resisting cement, SRC deposited in ocean with GPS. It is worthy of note that the X blocks had no reinforcement.
The port is estimated to accommodate 18,000 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) Vessels, 1400 local staff and its crest wall is designed for worst wave conditions projected for 100 years.
The 5 Ship to Shore (STS) and 15 Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) cranes are designed to move 100 containers in an hour, but would be operated consistently at 25-30 containers per hour.
As part of CSR, the project created an artificial beach and performs regular maintenance dredging. Also, a bio digester is provided in the sewage disposal system.
It was a very interactive session during which both parties agreed to collaborate to ensure successful inclusion of local content.
After the tour, Mr. Daniel encouraged young engineers to look up the LinkedIn page of Lekki Deep Sea Port Terminal so as to be kept abreast of opportunities available and help them understand how best to fit into the future operation of the project.
The visit ended at about 4:35pm with a photo session, after which, souvenirs were given to visiting ASCE members.
3.0 BENEFIT
The delegates had a firsthand exposure to the engineering processes, technologies and state-of-the-art equipment that were deployed in the mega project. It also helped the young engineers connect better, the theories learnt in school with the practical application in the field.
4.0 CONCLUSION
The ASCE delegates were sensitized to the enormity of the project and its contribution as a gateway for Nigeria to surrounding West African countries, thus boosting the economy of the nation. The Lekki port will have an estimated aggregate impact of 361 billion USD over 45 years, and offers a multiplier effect of more than 230 times of total cost of 1.53 billion USD. 169,972 jobs were estimated to be created from the port operation.
5.0 GALLERY OF PICTURES TAKEN AT THE VISIT
