Onne, also known as Onne-Eleme, is a town in Eleme, Rivers State, Nigeria.[1] The town is a host to one of the two prominent ports in Nigeria.[2] It is bordered by the towns of Alode, Ebubu, and the Ngololo River, which is one of the tributaries of the Bonny River.[3]
Onne is a relatively major port in the region[4] and has several quays with facilities for cargo ships up to 60,000 gross tons.[5] It is also the main base for the offshore activity in the region, and a large number of supply-vessels call at Onne every week.[6] This section of the port is called Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone and contains several quays to cater to off shore supply vessels and a shipyard (West Atlantic Shipyard).[7] The Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone also contains Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company, one of the largest bases of Shell offshore in Africa including berths leased out to ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies and other oil companies.[8][9]
The port consists of three regions adjacent to the Niger delta: Federal lighter terminal, Onne port complex and Federal ocean limited (which consists of facilities for offshore oil and gas supply vessels).[10]
Stores and freshwater are available as well as fuel and minor repairs. It also has a container terminal (West Africa Container Terminal) with a deep draft of 12 meters and frequented by vessels up to 4000 TEU in size belonging to Maersk lines and Pacific International Lines and CMA CGM.[11][12]
The city is part of Odido District in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. Onne has four clans, Agbeta, Alejor, Ekara and Ogoloma.[13] There are other smaller settlements within Onne, such as Eyaa camp. The people of Onne speak Eleme language.