WASHINGTON: As the nation’s economic fortune continues to dwindle, Nigerian ports have recorded drops in the cargo throughput for the first quarter of this year, an indication that less volume of goods was imported into the country within the period. There are also, indications that the second quarter may record further drop in the ports’ activities. The drop in gross tonnage was also reflected in the revenue generation drive of the Nigeria Customs Service as the agency also suffered deficit of more than N100 billion for the first half of the year.
Port-Terminal Data on the first quarter report of activities at the ports indicates that over 1,131 oceans going vessels called at various ports across the country. Virtually all the ports recorded a drop in vessel calls and tonnage. The Lagos Port Complex which houses about three terminals, namely: A. P Moller Terminals, ENL Terminals and Greenview Terminal, recorded a gross tonnage of 8, 195, 979 in the first quarter of 2016 as against 9,262, 792, in the same period in 2015 representing a drop of 11.5 per cent.
The Tin Can Island Port handled a total Gross Tonnage of 11, 853,587, showing a decline of 1.2 per cent when compared to the 2015 figure of 12, 260, 427. Calabar and Rivers Ports, respectively, recorded total gross tonnage of 776, 718, representing a decline of 15.4 per cent when compared to 918,237 recorded in 2015 and a 1,253,616 showing 14.2 per cent drop from 1,461, 562 in the corresponding period of 2015. A total of 79 ocean going vessels also called at the Rivers Port within the period under review.
Onne Port Complex recorded a gross tonnage of 9,851,240 reflecting a decrease of 13.4 per cent from 11,371,820 recorded in 2015. Surprisingly, the Ports in Delta namely, Warri, Burutu and Sapele ports recorded a gross tonnage of 1, 756, 305, an increase of 4.7 per cent over the 2015 figure of 1,677,915.
