Nigeria losing out to port inefficiency

Of the people interview for the report, 57% were made up of corporate large users of the ports; 11% were from the federal government’s ministries department and agencies; 10% from the logistics department; 6% were freight forwarders; 4% were terminal operators; and the remaining 12% were categorised as ‘others’.

All of the respondents revealed that they had experienced man-made delays, poor transportation, and infrastructure and ICT shortcomings.

“Nigeria’s ports have seen 3.3% compounded annual growth rate in gross tonnage of 144.2m within the past five years, and an annual growth of 1.8% is expected until 2021,” stated the report.

It added: “Notwithstanding this progress, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report indicates that Nigeria trails far behind many smaller economies in Africa in terms of port and maritime activities.”

Indeed, according to the report, Nigeria ranks fourth in Africa in terms of teu volumes. Morocco ranks third, South Africa second and Egypt first.

The report concluded that there was a need for reforms such as enhancing information exchange on a single window platform to reduce the presence of multiple ministries, departments and agencies of the government at the ports and to limit the spate of human interface.

To read the full report visit: http://lagoschamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Reforming-the-Maritime-Port-New.pdf