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Beyond petroleum
LADOL will move beyond oil and
gas, attracting manufacturing and
technology firms to assemble,
undertake R&D, service and store in the
Free Zone. Imports can be processed
here duty free and cargo shipped by
barge to shore when it is required.
LADOL can be a transit area for re-
exportation through the region. There
are no customs and red tape issues
here, as on the mainland, because the
relevant Nigerian authorities are also
based here. The Free Zone also has an
unlimited expat staff quota for clients,
unlike on the mainland.
Chief Information Officer for LADOL
is Colin Thistlewood. He knows his
logistics from his time with Bibby
Distribution. “The project won’t work
without the right IT,” he said. “We
need to invest and bring the IT to
the standards required, so we’re
overhauling the hardware and systems
and recruiting a maintenance team.
We’ll train Nigerian staff to eventually
take over the IT function.” The project
will involve provision of WMS, servers
and network equipment and a mast
for radio internet, which will be WAN
connected to the LADOL mainland
head office, as well as fibre-optic
cabling.
“Business continuity and disaster
recovery systems are needed too,”
he added. Sage ERP is deployed for
finance and workflow. The new ferry
terminal will have paperless visitor
management: access control system,
smart cards and mobile readers
for digital manifests. Non-LADOL
passengers will be charged or can
arrange a dedicated ferry or speed
boat service. “Clients may bring their
own IT department but will need to
use the base infrastructure and the
data centre will be hosted by us,” he
concluded.
Support andmaintain
Chris Marjoribanks is the base
manager for property and facilities.
He arrived in June and manages all
the support functions on the base:
accommodation (there are currently 50
clients and 30 LADOL staff living here
but these numbers will rise greatly),
maintenance (fixing faults), catering
(there are currently two dining facilities
– one serving Nigerian food and one
international) and recreation (facilities
currently include a (non-alcohol) bar
and swimming pool).
“I support client and LADOL employees
with all these,” he informed me. “Life
support. We need to look after our
clients 24/7 but our own staff are
equally important.” He has a team of
40 local workers and 3 supervising
line managers. New, permanent,
accommodation is already being
planned and designed. It will offer 3
differing standards – gold, silver and
bronze – to match varying levels of
residents’ seniority. More recreation
amenities are being specified by
Marjoribanks too – gyms, games and a
shop.
“We’ll make LADOL a one-stop-shop,
so there’ll be no need to go to the city,”
he stated. “People will work on site,
complete their rotation period, then fly
home. We’ll meet their requirements.
We have a common goal – success.
The next year or so is key to setting all
this out. Once we have it established
the demand will be high. It’ll grow
and I’m planning for the best-case
scenario.”
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Logistics Business Magazine | November 2015
REGIONAL PROFILE