Dangote is investigating the possibilities of water buses for Lagos State Nigeria to elevate some of the stress on the Lagos road traffic. CDR was invited to perform a quick scan and present their results. The Key Project Aspects were:
- Proper Technical and Operational Project Management is the main pillar for success of the project;
- Ferry Operations in (mega-)cities is ongoing worldwide, knowledge is well available: managing all processes strictly and efficiently is challenging given the environment;
- Lagos conditions are very special, one should be prepared for its extreme crowds and the specific mentality of the customers;
- Terminal operations will be the most important link in the chain of operations demanding utmost attention;
- International standard and strictest operational procedures should be strongly adhered to in order to win respect and order; safety and security of operations (permanently) is key parameter of success;
- Optimization w.r.t. ferry boats deployment, routing, timing to be optimized pro-actively during operations; the electronic ticketing system is instrumental.
CDR has performed a quick scan in Europe on waterbus systems and presented their findings.