THE CASE FOR DRY PORTS

Dry ports help in the ease of doing business

At the commissioning of the Funtua Inland Dry Port in Katsina State last week, President Bola Tinubu described it as another step forward for Nigeria’s economic development. “This port, strategically located in Funtua, is the third to be completed and commissioned among the six legacy Inland Dry Port projects spread across our nation’s six geo-political zones,” the president said. “It is imperative to acknowledge the long-awaited anticipation from our hinterland business communities for such essential facilities. The Funtua Inland Dry Port holds immense potential to enhance the ease of conducting international business for interior-based shippers, both importers and exporters.”

With importers having to contend with poor state of roads and security concerns, Inland Dry Ports (IDP) have helped to ensure unhindered trade facilitation and ease of doing business in the country. Conceived by the Nigerian Shippers Council as part of the federal government reform programme in 2006 and designed to decongest the seaports while also taking shipping and port services closer to importers and exporters in the hinterland, the six pilot IDP projects approved by the federal government are located in Jos, Plateau State; Isiala Ngwa, Abia State; Funtua, Katsina State; Dala, Kano State; Kaduna, and Erenmu, Oyo State. The Dry Ports were built on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

The Kastina Dry Port grants importers and exporters in our inland cities, as well as neighbouring hinterland countries such as Niger, Chad, Northern Cameroon, and Central Africa, access to shipping and port services without the need to physically visit the seaports. The port also offers importers the convenience of processing cargo clearance and receiving raw materials and machinery closer to their places of business. For exporters, it provides essential facilities for processing, packaging, consolidating, and forwarding exports worldwide.

According to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, dry ports offer numerous benefits to the economy. They act as a cost-effective distribution channel between seaports and high-capacity rail while allowing for goods to reach their final destinations quicker, and at a lower price. They also relieve the issues of storage and customs space that frequently plaque seaports. Furthermore, dry ports speed up the movement of cargo between ships and inland transportation systems that distribute the goods. This helps maintain dry ports as central distribution hubs for a massive amount of goods, as the import and export of goods become quicker.

The Executive Secretary Nigerian Shippers Council, Akutah Pius Ukeyima indeed pointed out that Inland Dry Ports hold immense potential to enhance the ease of conducting international business and avowed means of diversifying the economy towards non-oil export. The Funtua Inland Dry Port, according to Ukeyima, will help to unlock the economic potential of Nigeria while facilitating global trade most especially within the land locked countries access to shipping services without the need to physically visit the seaport. And for exporters of our agricultural and mineral resources, dry ports will provide essential facilities for processing, packaging, consolidating, and forwarding exports worldwide while generating income and employment opportunities for the country.

To the extent that transportation is a catalyst for the growth of any economy, we endorse the idea of dry ports which ordinarily operate as centres for the transshipment of sea cargo to inland destinations. Since the commissioning of first ever IDP in Nigeria, Kaduna Inland Dry Port in 2017 by President Muhammadu Buhari, there have been strong requests by both local and international investors to buy into this project. It is an idea that should be encouraged, especially with the collaboration of the private sector.