A total of 3,972 vessels have been reported to have berthed at Nigerian ports in 2020 as compared to 4,251 vessels in 2019.
This was made known by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala-Usman, on Monday while addressing maritime reporters in a virtual forum.
Bala Usman said the nation also witnessed a drop in cargo throughput in 2020.
She said, “In 2019, we had a total of 4,251 vessels that called into our ports, according to the ship traffic data. In 2020, we had 3,972. So, we had a drop. In terms of cargo throughput, we had 78.4 million metric tonnes in 2020 while in 2019 the nation recorded 80.2 million MT in 2019.”
“This new licensing regime, the marine and operations directory is going to embark on new licenses in 2021 which will be stricter in ensuring the barges are functional.
“We will address the challenges we have with the movement of the barges themselves, to sequence it and make sure that the harbour master is in control of the activities. We will also develop a Standard Operating procedure on barge operations.”
Speaking further, Bala-Usman warned trucks to desist from parking along the port corridors, noting that they could not drive into the ports to receive a cargo without using the e-call up app.
She explained that the process was free, inclusive of on-boarding but the truckers would pay when they were exiting the truck park though it would not be operational until February 27.
