A port terminal in Lagos.

A group of stakeholders under the aegis of Shipping Agencies, Clearing and Forwarding Employers Association SACFEA, has urged the Federal Government to take urgent steps towards reducing port tariffs in the country in order to make the seaports competitive.

But in a swift reaction, sources at the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, has said that both the Federal Government and the Authority under the supervision of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy are committed to making Nigeria’s seaports attractive and competitive.

According to the source, everything is being done to upgrade and modernise port infrastructure as well as expanding the ongoing automation programmes, which they argued, remained potent factors in making any seaport competitive and attractive.

Speaking during a press conference in Lagos, Friday, Chairman of the group, Mrs. Boma Alabi SAN, observed that the high tariffs on port services in the country has led to loss of cargo traffic to other ports within the West and Central African sub-region, who are taking advantage of high port charges in Nigeria to wrest the country’s large traffic, given her large population.

She said specifically that the high cost of berthing vessels has made Nigeria’s seaports uncompetitive to shipping liners and customers, who now prefer other neighbouring ports, whose vessel berthing charges are lower. She regretted that most of such cargo find their way into Nigeria under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement AfCFTA.

“Nigeria’s seaports have become uncompetitive because of the several charges customers are made to pay at the ports as compared to neighbouring seaports like Abidjan, Lome and Cotonou, who collect relatively low charges. This portends huge revenue loss to the Federal Government because these goods still find their way into Nigeria under the AfCFTA”, she lamented.

The SACFEA chairman cited Terminal 3 of Tema Port of Ghana operated by Meridian Port Services MPS, which is a dedicated container terminal that operates 3 berths and capable of receiving ships of 366m LOA and16 metres draught.

According to statistics released by her, the MPS Terminal 3 at Tema Port alone handled 1.9m TEUs for 2024 while Nigeria’s total throughput stood at 1.2m TEUs under the same period.

“Vessel berthing charges at Tema Port is US$15,000 while the Nigerian authorities used to charge $US150,000, which has risen to US$200, 000 after the recent 15per cent hike in Ports and Marine Fees introduced by the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA.

“Also, following the recent 15 per cent hike in port tariff by the NPA, importers used to pay N55, 000 on a 20-foot container but now they pay N145, 000. Before now, it cost N100, 000 to clear a 40-foot container but now it cost N290, 000 to clear the same 40-foot container. This excludes other port ports and logistics charges”, she further lamented.

She listed other vessel berthing charges in other African and Asian seaports including China and Singapore. For instance, according to her, in Lome it costs only US$26,000 to berth a vessel, US$27, 000 in Cotonou, US$60, 000 in Abidjan, US$29, 000 in Singapore and US$21, 000 in Shanghai Port, China.

She insists that the above statics show that Nigeria’s seaports are not competitive, a development that does not enhance the much needed inflow of investments in the sector, arguing that every rational investor would rather go to jurisdictions where they would have higher returns on their investments.

She also disclosed that the stakeholders were not informed about the 15per cent hike in charges before the government imposed, urging the government to try to make the ports competitive and attractive reducing the high tariffs.

“If the port tariffs are reduced, cargo throughput will increase, the Federal Government will earn higher revenues, and enough jobs will be created to the country’s ever growing youth population” Alabi said.

She also said that the indirect taxation that customers have to pay is making Nigeria’s business environment unfriendly to business and investment as there are no new factories, manufacturing companies and the unemployment gap is widening daily.

She complained about the dilapidated port structures, queues from cargo trucks, pot holes on port access roads, human toll- gates, government agencies collecting fees which is eventually transferred to the transportation costs bored by the masses.

She averred that the Blue Economy Project is a dead on arrival Project because of the mind and attitude of the Nigerian government which seems anti-business.

While fielding questions on how Nigeria can make the ports more competitive and attractive to get her cargo traffic back, she noted that in addition to reducing the port tariffs, Federal Government should also do well to stop dollarising the economy.

“The 15per cent hike in shipping charges is a triple increment on the amount we used to pay given the exchange rate. Just like the suspended Customs 4% FOB levy, the government should remove the recent 15per cent hike. We are pleading,” she said.

She urged the government to also review the charges in line with what obtains in other neighboring Ports and enjoined the agencies to engage stakeholders in order to review the port charges so that Nigerian Ports can be competitive again.

Deputy Managing Director, CMACGM Nigeria, operators of the Lekki Deep Seaport, Mr. Ramesh Saraf, who also spoke during the conference, observed that with international investment in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, one expected a quick rebound in the transshipment cargo, but regretted that the modern and world-class infrastructure at the mew port is underutilised.

“Lekki Deep Sea Port started operation in April 2023 with less than half capacity of cargo, and now less operation is taking place at the port.

“The cost of operation at Lekki Deep Seaport has tripled due to the15per cent hike in port charges compared to other ports across the world,” Saraf said.

He said that the jobs carried out there is less than half in terms of volume, and with the new 15% increase in Port and Marine Fees, transhipment is now more than three times expensive as compared to what is charged in other ports.

Consequently, he lamented that Nigerian importers and exporters take their products to Ghana and Cotonou Ports while finding a way to bring them back into the Country for sales.

” Let us not kill the cargo business in the name of increasing revenue,” he lamented.

But the sources from the Nigerian Ports Authority, which spoke on the condition of nonymity, refuted these claims.

The source noted that a lot of factors determine the cost incurred on sizes of containers and cost of berthing vessels which include gross tonnage of vessel GRT, unit of Twenty- foot Equivalent Unit(TEUs) discharged or loaded, origin of the cargo, status of terminal of operation, Length Overall of vessel LOA, amongst others.

He also averred that many operations do not have exact statistics on these factors, so, it is almost impossible to attribute all charges to NPA port charges vis-a-vis the countries listed against Nigeria.

The source said: “The submission forwarded therefore is vague. How could a 20-foot container that costs, N55,000 before 15per cent hike now cost N145, 000? That would be 263per cent increase, whereas the 15per cent increment is supposed to be N63, 240?

In the same vein, 40-foot container that cost N100, 000 increased to N290, 000 at 209per cent increment as against 15per cent which ought to be N115,000. Also, according to their claim, a vessel that costs US$150,00 to berth before the 15per cent review rose to $240, 000 which is 160per cent rise as against 15per cent increase. Meanwhile, similar operations costs more in smaller countries.”

The source insists that both the Federal Government and the Nigerian Ports Authority under the supervision of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy are committed to making Nigeria’s seaports attractive and competitive by upgrading and modernising port infrastructure as well as expanding the ongoing automation programmes.