On Nigerian Infrastructure: Seaports
First part of a series on federally-enabled infrastructure in Nigeria
The Lekki Deep-Sea Port, completed in 2022, and opened in January 2023, is Nigeria’s first truly Deep-Sea Port. Generally speaking, modern Deep-Sea Ports have depths (aka drafts) starting from around 15m.
As a rule, the deeper the draft, the bigger the ships the Port can take. Of course, the bigger the ship, the bigger its container-carrying capacity.
Lekki Port, at 16.5m draft, is the only Nigerian Port at the moment that exceeds this 15m benchmark, and therefore qualifies as a Deep-Sea Port.
Apapa and TinCan Ports are around 13m—14m. River Port Complex is 9m—10m, Onne is about 11m, Calabar is around 6m—7m.
So you can see why it is said that Lekki is Nigeria’s FIRST Deep-Sea Port. It is also the first fully-automated Sea Port in Nigeria.
I find it really interesting that it has taken the giant of Africa 6 decades after Independence to get its first Deep-Sea Port. I’m not sure if people truly appreciate how much of a big deal it is, that it finally happened.
I wrote in detail about it, here:
EXCERPT: “As President Buhari formally inaugurates the Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos on Monday January 23, 2023, it is worth highlighting that this landmark inauguration is taking place against the backdrop of the fact that only one new Sea Port was (partially) developed in Nigeria within the last forty years: the Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT), where construction of the first phase lingered from 1980 to the mid-1990s. Let’s think about that for a second. Africa’s largest and most important economy — and most populous country, currently adding the equivalent of Liberia’s population every year — somehow struggled to deliver even a single greenfield port project, for decades. Until Lekki Deep-Sea Port, where construction started in July 2020, during a pandemic, and was completed in October 2022.”
Eastern Ports
Now let’s talk about the Eastern Ports of Nigeria. One of the complaints you will hear often is that the Federal Government has focused exclusively on the Ports in Lagos, and ignored other Ports, especially the Ports on the eastern side of Nigeria’s coastline.
This is false.
In the last few years, a LOT has happened with the Eastern Ports (as they are known), in terms of deliberate Government focus and in terms of creating the environment for private investment. Of course it’s still work in progress, but there’s plenty of positive news already taking shape.
I did a long Twitter thread on the renaissance of Nigeria’s Eastern Ports, in January 2020. Check it out here.
Did you know, for example, that the 2 largest containerships to ever berth at any Nigerian port, have been in Onne Port, not any of the Lagos Ports. (Specifically at Onne’s West Africa Container Terminal, WACT)
They are the Maersk Stadelhorn, 300 meters long and 48 meters wide, that berthed on August 15, 2020, and the Lady Jane, 294.5 meters long and 32.3 meters wide, that berthed on April 13, 2022.
It was reported that Lady Jane, on its outbound journey, didn’t leave empty, it loaded 1,060 TEUs, with agricultural produce comprising 50% of the cargo. (*TEU = twenty-foot equivalent unit. It’s an industry way of measuring shipping-container sizes; one TEU represents one 20-foot container).
As of 2022, Onne Port was the fastest-growing Seaport in Nigeria, according to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
“Year to year, in terms of percentage, Onne is the fastest growing port in terms of business and activity in Nigeria currently. We are happy to see that a port outside of Lagos is also active. And it is not just active in terms of importation, it is also active in terms of export.” — Mohammed Bello-Koko, Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), October 2022
The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) at Onne has been investing huge sums of money in their facility at Onne Port. They do a great job documenting this on Twitter: embarking on a terminal expansion project, investing in new equipment, building a secondary data center, etc.
Calabar Port belongs to Nigeria’s Eastern Ports. In 2019, the Federal Government began the construction of a brand-new Ikom Bridge, a vital access bridge to the Calabar Port. The old steel-canopy bridge was completed in 1971, and had long outlived its usefulness.
The new Bridge, financed by the 2018 and 2020 sovereign Sukuk Bonds of the Federal Government; was completed in 2021 (fifty years after the old Bridge) and commissioned in 2022.
Calabar Port has been getting busier over the years. You can check out the Twitter handle of ECM Terminals Limited, one of the Port concessionaires, to see some of the recent activity.
In June 2022, Calabar Port berthed a 190m-long vessel, MV Value Tyler, sailing from Singapore.
And then there’s the Onitsha Port. Unlike the others highlighted above, this is a River Port, on the River Niger. Which means that you will not be seeing heavy vessels berthing here, instead it will be smaller vessels, and barges.
But even as a River Port, the commercial potential is huge, because it can function as an intermediary Port for any of the Seaports. You can berth the large(r) vessels in Lagos or Onne, etc, and then barge the containers to Onitsha, and also work in the reverse direction. What you need to do is ensure the River channels are regularly dredged and kept free of wrecks.
The great news is that Onitsha River Port is doing well. It was concessioned—on Rehabilitate, Operate & Transfer (ROT) basis, for a period of 30 years—to a private consortium in 2022, Universal Elysium Consortium, led by Dr. George Nwangwu (lawyer, academic and Infrastructure regulation & privatization expert).
The Consortium signed a management contract with the Port of Antwerp-Bruges International, a subsidiary of Antwerp Port Authority, which runs the second-largest Seaport in Europe. Let that sink in. Onitsha River Port is now managed/run by one of the most experienced and competent Ports managers in the world.
The Onitsha Port recently began commercial operations, with the inaugural barge movements carrying 600 tonnes of tiles from a factory in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, to the Port, and 600 tonnes of clay from the Port to the factory — each journey the equivalent of taking 70 trucks off the roads.
Indigenous Charting
Accompanying all the work going on with Seaports, is something that the Nigerian Navy and the National Inland Waterways Authority are taking the lead on: local production of Navigational Charts of Nigeria’s Waterways: the Lower River Niger, and the Lekki (Lagos) waterways.
In March 2023, the Federal Government launched Nigeria’s first set of indigenously-produced Navigational Charts of the Lower River Niger, covering 456 kilometers from Lokoja to Burutu.
Produced by the Nigerian Navy’s Hydrography Office, working with NIWA, in partnership with Nigeria’s Exim Bank (NeximBank) and the Sealink Consortium, with grant financing from AfreximBank.
Also, a few months ago, the Nigerian Navy’s Hydrographic Office (NNHO) concluded the mapping and charting of Alape River in Ondo State, and produced new navigational charts of the River. Alape River flows from Ilaje in Ondo State and empties into the Lekki and Apapa Lagoons in Lagos.
Inland Dry Ports
In the last five years, new Inland Dry Ports have been built in Kakuri (Kaduna), Funtua (Katsina State) and Dala (Kano State). Inland Dry Ports—also known as Inland Container Terminals—are so-called because they are “Ports” that exist in places with no access to water.
These IDPs are private sector-led projects: the Federal Government of Nigeria issues concessions to willing private investors, and State Governments support with some infrastructure, like access roads and electricity connections where necessary.
Once completed, and designated as a Port of Origin and Destination by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), an IDP/ICD becomes authorised to process imports and exports.
Which means that as an importer, for example, you can indicate the IDP as the destination of your inbound goods, and the goods will be delivered to you at the IDP. And as an exporter, you can deliver your goods to the IDP, and rest assured it will be duly exported from there.
This is where a functioning rail connection comes in, for ease of transport between the IDP and a Seaport, from/to which the goods will ultimately be shipped. All the IDPs currently licensed in Nigeria are in places that are on the existing National Rail route (either the old narrow-gauge, or the emerging standard-gauge).
I read somewhere that it is as much as six times more expensive to move shipping containers by road between Lagos and Kano/Kaduna, than it is to move them by rail.
Nigeria currently has seven (7) licensed Inland Dry Ports/ICDs, as follows: Jos, Kano, Funtua, Maiduguri, Kaduna, Aba, and Ibadan.
A couple more things…
In September 2023, the Nigerian Railway Corporation began moving cargo from the Apapa Port, on the new standard gauge rail that the Buhari Administration built from Lagos to Ibadan. It’s a big F. deal (I’m borrowing from Joe Biden here).
On May 4, 2023, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved 3 new Port Projects:
The development of the Ondo Multipurpose Deep-Sea Port in Ilaje, Ondo State, at a cost of US$1.48 Billion USD (to be privately financed), and a 50-year concession period.
The expansion and development of Snake Island Sea Port, Lagos, private financing; US$974.1 Million; 45-year concession period
The expansion and development of Burutu Sea Port, Delta State, private financing; US$1.2 Billion; 40-year concession period
On August 3, 2022, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the Development of the Badagry Deep-Sea Port, on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model, in four phases, at a cost of US$2.594 Billion, to be fully-financed by private investors, and for a concession period of 45 years.
When completed, the new Badagry Deep-Sea Port will be equipped to annually handle 3.9 million TEU, 1.4 million Cars and 24 million metric tonnes of cargo.
There have also been FEC approvals in recent years for the construction of New (privately-financed) Deep-Sea Ports in Ibom (Akwa Ibom), Bonny (Rivers), and Warri (Delta).
So what we have right now is a race to see which of the several approved Deep-Sea Ports will be the first to reach commercial close and proceed to construction and completion, and become Nigeria’s second Deep-Sea Port, after Lekki.
The vision for Seaports in Nigeria is that all Seaports must have rail connection. Hence the extension of the Lagos-Ibadan Rail from Ebute-Meta to Apapa Port, through a November 30, 2016 Federal Executive Council (FEC) addendum to the original 2012 contract.
Let me close with this Fun Fact: Aba (Abia State) is closer to a Seaport than Ibadan (Oyo State) is.
Thank you very much Tolu.
I am learning more about what is happening in Nigeria daily.
I learnt a lot about Nigerian Ports while reading this, thank you so much or sharing.