MOWCA, AfreximBank consider partnership for ship financing

Dr Paul Adalikwu, Secretary General, Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) has commenced talks with Afreximbank to open ship financing and procurement of other maritime asset opportunities for African investors and maritime stakeholders.

After a virtual bilateral meeting between MOWCA and Afreximbank, both organisations agreed on the need to expand maritime business opportunities and strengthen the planned Africa-wide cabotage regime to boost investments and generate jobs.

Adalikwu, who told Dr Gainmore Zanamwe, the bank’s Acting Director, Trade Facilitator & Intra African Trade about MOWCA’s efforts to achieve easy access to credit for maritime business, noted that all state-owned shipping lines established in West and Central Africa between 1975 and 1990 have ceased to exist.

According to Dr Adalikwu, seaborne trade is dominated by the giant shipping lines from Europe and Asia and the only profit Africa makes is the registration fees of their vessels in some member-states and port fees when they call to discharge cargoes leading to capital flight. For the objectives of AfCTA to be realised, there must be African owned vessels plying the continent.

He further indicated that shipping needs the modernisation of African ports, intermodal connectivity with other modes of transport, such as rail, road, pipeline and inland waterways and the development of dry ports to solve the problem of likely congestion.

By Tribune Online

https://tribuneonlineng.com/mowca-afreximbank-consider-partnership-for-ship-financing/#:~:text=Dr%20Paul%20Adalikwu%2C%20Secretary%20General,African%20investors%20and%20maritime%20stakeholders.