Shallow channels hinder Nigeria’s quest for hub status

By Tayo Oladipupo |

‎Shallow draught of Nigeria’s ports may deny the country of the much-sought after cargo destination status in the West and Central Africa sub-region.

Nigeria has over the years been in the race to become cargo hub centre, a status Ivory Coast, Ghana and Togo are also eyeing.

Due to the limitations in draught depth, bigger vessels could not come to the nation’s ports, thus harming the chances of Nigeria to clinch the spot.

While ports of neighbouring countries can receive a vessel of 19,000 TEUs’, Nigerian ports can only receive 4,900 TEU, due to the criminal Shallow channel.

Also, Apapa, Tin-Can ports have 13.5 meters, the Eastern ports have a much lower channel draught with the Port Harcourt port having seven meters channel draught, the Calabar ports are 6.4m.
But, Ghana has 19 metres, Togo 16 metres, Cotonou 15 metres and Cameroon is 16 metres.
A deeper channel draught, would lead to increased cargo throughput, contribution to Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and massive employment.
The shallow Nigerian Channels draught have explained why Nigerian seaports are losing transit corridors for goods heading for landlocked countries in West Africa.

Also, presently, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Cote D’Ivoire provide a better route for moving goods to land-locked countries like Mali, Burkina, Niger, Chad than Nigeria, because of the overall cost.
The revenue being lost is supposed to be generated from revenue from Nigeria Customs Service, Standard Organization of Nigeria National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control and other revenue agencies operating at the nation’s seaports.
Also, the operators are expected to make increased revenue from handling and storage charges.
Bigger vessels calling at the nation’s seaports would also lead to reduced handling costs and shipping cost due to lower operating costs for shipping companies.

Also, Shipping experts have argued that for Nigerian ports to become an international standard maritime destination, it must attract huge vessels like the Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) and the Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCC).
They argued further that the global shipping industry is now in an era where countries do 7,000-14,000 TEU capacity vessels. However, for Nigeria to do that, it will need to have deeper channels to be able to accommodate these bigger vessels (bigger tonnages) because shipping is about economics of size.
Last year, it was reported that Nigeria’s ports dropped on the global ratings, basically due to bad infrastructures. Its major competitors in the West African region; the Port of Lome, Togo, Port of Dakar, Senegal, Port of Cotonou, Benin, all delivered better efficient services than Nigerian ports.

This has also been attributed as the cause of a downward trend of traffic experienced at Nigerian seaport since 2016, according to data released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics in March 2018.
However, at the moment, the size of ships that can come in at Lome, Togo are more than double the size of the vessels that are currently passing out in Nigeria.
A shipping expert, Dabney Shall Homa, noted that deeper channels mean more revenue for the Federal government and operators.
She said, “A deeper draft means larger vessels call, economies of scale and increased revenue for both government and operators.
“It means reduced handling costs and shipping cost due to lower operating costs for shipping companies. There would be a strengthening of our comparative advantage in marine transportation,” She said.
The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Lagos Managing Director Andrew Lynch, said Nigerian ports have so much potentials to be leader in the region , but have infrastructural problems.
According to him, “There’s a limit to the size of vessels they can accommodate and shipping, especially container shipping, is all about economies of scale. So the larger vessels you use, the lower the cost of importing and exporting, and the lower the freight cost we can deliver” he said.
According to the President, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Lucky Amiwero, Nigeria has lost its maritime leadership position to other countries not only because of security lapses but because of shallow draft. While Nigerian water is 13 metres deep, Ghana is 19 metres, Togo is 16 metres, Cotonou 15 metres and Cameroon is 16 metres.