Shippers Urge FG to Reduce Leviesto Make Nigerian Ports Competitive 

Eromosele Abiodun

Shippers in the country have on the federal government to reduce levies that are making Nigerian ports uncompetitive so as to wrest cargos from neighbouring countries.

The Chairman Shiping Agencies, Clearing and Forwarding Employers Association (SACFEA), Boma Alabi during a chat with newsmen in Lagos over the weekend said the cost of doing business in Nigerian ports ia working against the country as smaller countries have taken advantage of cost to wrest cargos from Nigeria. 

She stressed that Nigerian Ports have become uncompetitive because of the several charges customers are made to pay at the port as compared to neighboring Ports like Cotonou and Lome who collect relatively low charges.

For instance, she said Terminal 3 at Tema Port, Ghana, which is a dedicated container terminal that operates 3 berths and capable of receiving ships of 366m LOA and16 metres draught, did 1.9m TEUs in 2024 while the entire Nigerian ports did 1.2m TEUs in 2024.

She lamented that the Vessel berthing charges at Tema Port pays$15,000 dollars while it costs $150,000 in Nigeria which has poor facilities.

As against the high charges in Nigeria, she said vessels berthing inLome pays $26,000, Cotonou-$27,000, Singapore- $29, 000, Shanghai $21,000 and Abidjan $60,000.

She noted that a 20ft container  before now costs N55,000 and a 40ft container costs N100,000 disclosing that a 20ft container now costN145,000 and a 40ft container N290,000 after the recent 15 per cent increase in charges.

She emphasised that the statistics above showed that Nigerian Ports are not competitive adding that an investor will rather go to a place where he can get a good return on investment than investing in Nigeria. 

Speaking, Deputy Managing Director, CMA/CGM Nigeria, Ramesh Saraf stated that the the Lekki Deep Sea Port is underutilised as a result of high cost.

“Lekki Deep Sea Port started operation in April 2023 with less than half capacity of cargo, and now less operation is taking place at the port. The cost of operation in Lekki Deep Sea Port is triple the port charges in other ports across the world,” Saraf said.

He lamented that Nigerian importers and exporters take their products to Ghana and Cotonou Ports while finding a way to bring them back into the Country for sales.

“Let us not kill the cargo business in the name of increasing revenue,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, competent sources at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) refuted the claims.

The source who pleaded anonymity saida lot of factors determine the cost incurred on sizes of containers and cost of berthing vessels which include gross tonnage of vessel(GRT),unit of Twenty- foot Equivalent Unit(TEUs) discharged or loaded, origin of the cargo, status of terminal of operation, Length Overall of vessel(LOA)amongst others. 

He said many operations do not have exact statistics on these factors, “So, it is almost impossible to tie all tauted values to NPA port charges vis-a-vis the countries listed against Nigeria.