Maritime
Nigerian Ports Recorded Low Container Traffic In 2020 – NPA Boss
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) says Delta Port suffered a dip in container traffic in 2020 with 1,224 TEUs compared to the 6,827 TEUs recorded in 2019.
It said the volumes of cargo handled at Nigeria’s seaports dropped to 78.4 million metric tonnes in 2020 from 80.2 million metric tonnes recorded in 2019, representing a decline of 2.24 per cent.
According to the Authority, the nation’s ports also recorded a decline in ship traffic from a total of 4,251 in 2019 to 3,972 ships in 2020.
The Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, gave the figures during a media parley in Lagos, recently, attributing the drop to the COVID-19 pandemic, which ravaged the global economy.
“In year 2020, the nation’s busiest Port, Apapa Port received 632,148 TEUs of container traffic compared to 668,672 TEUs received in 2019.”
“For the nation’s second busiest port, Tin Can Island Port, 650,365 TEUs of containers arrived at the port in 2020 compared to 820,942 TEUs of containers in 2019.
“For Onne Port, 266,109 TEUs of containers arrived in 2020 compared to 247,528 TEUs in 2019, while In Rivers Port, 91,971 TEUs of containers arrived in 2020 compared to 71,020 TEUs in 2019”, he said.
He said 1,561TEUs of containers arrived Calabar Port in 2020 compared to 174 in 2019.
According to him, the total number of container traffic that came to Nigerian ports was 1,643,378 TEUs compared to the 1,815,163 TEUs received in 2019.
“For a number of vessel calls at the Apapa Port, 986 ships called in 2020 compared to 1,034 vessels in 2019. At Tin Can port, 1,127 ships called in 2020 while 1,311 vessels called in 2019.
“In total, Nigerian ports received 3,972 ships with a Gross Registered Tonnage of 125,133,912 compared to the 4,251 ships that called in 2019 with a Gross Registered Tonnage of 138,577,463.
“In terms of cargos, we had 78.4 million metric tonnes in 2020 while the nation recorded 80.2 million metric tonnes in 2019.”
He explained that the improvement in container traffic at Onne Port was as a result of the deepening of the port channel and huge investment in cargo handling equipment by the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT).