43 ships with different cargoes are currently stuck in Lagos waters as congestion stalls operations at Nigeria’s busiest ports, the TinCan Island Port and Apapa Port in Lagos.
The nation’s import and export transactions is being hindered due to the congestion at the ports. This has caused an increase in the cost of shipping goods to Nigeria by about 600 percent.
The situation has thrown port operators at TinCan and Apapa ports into confusion as containers are stranded at the terminals, while ships are delayed unnecessarily on the waters because of limited stacking space.
At the TinCan Island port, stacking spaces are almost filled to capacity. A section of the road into the port is under construction, while the other road is manned by security agencies allegedly extorting money from importers.
Reports show that the first gate at TinCan was completely shut to allow for construction, while hoodlums and security officials manned the second gate.
The situation was the same at Apapa port: one access road was shut for construction while the other had trucks parked on the sides of the road, leaving only a narrow path for traffic.
Statistics by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) revealed that 10 ships waiting to berth in Apapa port were at the Lagos anchorage. At TinCan, 33 ships are stranded at anchorage due to the lack of space to discharge new cargoes at terminals. This gives a total of 43 vessels waiting to berth at Lagos ports alone.
Some of the names of the ships in Apapa are Navious Destiny, Desert Virtue, Sky Hope, SVS Morgan, Maersk Cadiz, STI Maestro, and Houston Star, Maersk Conakry, Maersk Cabo Verde, and UACC IBN Sina among others.
Others waiting to berth at TinCan are Genco Bourgogne, Navios Destiny, EM Spetses, African Joseph, MV Jacson Bay, MSC India, Glovis Countess, MSC Carmen, MSC Marta, RHL Concorda and Grand Champion, among others.
Another batch of 25 new ships is being expected at Apapa Port, while 19 vessels are still expected this December.