There are signs that the country will soon see more cargo diversions to neighbouring West African ports, as well as an increase in freight rates, as a result of the collapse of both the Tin Can and Apapa quay aprons.
A quay is a section of a port where cargo is lifted or ships are loaded and unloaded.
According to experts, shipping companies will now be afraid to berth at the affected ports, resulting in cargoes being diverted to West African ports or a possible increase in freight charges.
Adewale Ishola, a member of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners, stated that the current state of the quay aprons posed a risk to incoming vessels.
“The quay aprons portray danger to incoming ships. They expose ships coming in to danger, so it means if you are not careful, people will say that our ports are not safe. If our quay aprons are not strong enough to take vessels, it means vessels will reject going to Tin Can port.
“Maybe they will now go to other ports and drop our cargoes. And Apapa port is not even safer because it is older. Apapa was becoming filled up as at then; Tin Can was now built to take some cargoes off Apapa. Tin Can was built out of necessity. That means if ships start to reject coming to these ports because of the collapsing quay aprons, there may be additional premium for them to enter our ports because they know they are taking a risk to come there. So, the cost of delivering cargo might become higher if they have to bring their vessels to come and deliver cargoes at a collapsing quay side,” he said.
Also speaking, an oil and gas analyst, Zaka Bala, said that the collapsing of the quay aprons of the ports spelt doom for Nigerian economy, noting that vessels would start moving away from Nigeria.
“This portends doom for Nigerian economy. It portends doom for Nigerian economy because a lot of vessels will start moving away from Nigeria. And that will make other countries that are on the coastal waters of Atlantic Ocean to start developing their ports. Once they start developing their ports, all the big ships will start diverting to their ports and once that happens, most of the ships that are supposed to bring goods to Nigeria will start berthing in other countries. Before you know it, other countries will take over the position of Nigeria. And once that happens, it means even if we import goods, they will stop in other countries and we will be forced to go to other countries within Africa to bring in our goods. It will spell economic doom for Nigeria,” he concluded.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Muhammad Bello-Koko, had, over the weekend, raised the alarm that Tin Can Island port was collapsing, saying that more attention should be focused more on rehabilitating the quay walls of the port.