A total of 3972 vessels called Nigerian ports in 2020 as against 4251 vessels in 2019.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala-Usman, stated this in Lagos.

“In 2019, we had a total of 4251 vessels that called into our ports, according to the ship traffic data. In 2020, we had 3972. 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 licences 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,” she said.