Mercury Maritime Concession Company (MMCC) and Port of Antwerp International have partnered to design and develop Escravos Seaport Industrial Complex (ESIC) in Nigeria.

ESIC will involve the development of a deep seaport, crude oil refinery and gas complex, international airport, industrial estate, and a Free Trade Zone. The project will cover 20,000 hectares of land.

The USD2.9 billion project will be executed in 2 phases namely  ESIC 1 and ESIC 2. ESIC 1 is the seaport complex, which is the backbone of the project while the ESIC2 would open up the waterway transportation from Escravos Seaport into the hinterland via River Niger and Benue and other regions such as Onitsha, Lokoja, Makurdi and others.

Escravos seaport is conceptualized as a modern deep seaport that will handle container Ro-Ro vessels, specialized cargo and general cargo. Designed to primarily serve ESIC-1 and also support Nigeria’s regular international seaborne trade, thus accentuating the contribution of Delta ports to Nigeria’s economic development as well as boosting contributions of Delta State seaports from its present 3% share.

The stakeholders in the project are the Federal Government of Nigeria, Delta State Government, MMCC, Port of Antwerp International along with some technical partners.