The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Usman, has reported increase in container traffic for majority of the eastern ports in 2020 compared to 2019.
Usman revealed this during a virtual meeting with maritime journalists in Lagos.
She explained that for Onne Port, 266,109 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units of containers arrived in 2020 compared to 247,528 in 2019.
The NPA boss said that while the Lagos ports suffered a drop in 2020, the Eastern ports were boosted by 10 per cent discount to shipping lines.
“For majority of the eastern ports, container traffic increased in 2020 compared to what was received in 2019. For Onne port, 266,109 TEUs of containers arrived in 2020 compared to 247,528 TEUs in 2019. In Rivers, 91,971 TEUs of containers arrived in 2020 compared to 71,020 in 2019. In Calabar, 1,561 TEUs of containers arrived in 2020 compared to 174 in 2019.
“While the Lagos ports suffered a drop in container volume in 2020, the eastern ports were boosted by the 10 per cent discount offered to shipping lines to patronise the ports in the east. More ships called at the eastern ports compared to what we had in 2020,” she said.
According to Usman, Apapa and Tin Can ports witnessed a slump in container traffic in 2020, largely due to the Coronavirus Disease that rocked the global economy.
“In 2020, the nation’s busiest port, Apapa, received 632,148 TEUs of container traffic compared to 668,672 received in 2019. For the nation’s second busiest, Tin Can Island Port, also in Lagos, 650,365 TEUs arrived in 2020 compared to 820,942 the previous year.
“For a number of vessel calls at the Apapa Port, 986 ships called in 2020 compared to 1,034 in 2019. At Tin Can, 1,127 ships called in 2020 while 1,311 called in 2019. In totality, 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 GRT of 138,577,463.”
