Nigeria loses $148m yearly to other West African countries
• Outdated infrastructure, limited capacity, crippling Nigeria’s shipyard industry
• Dozens of Nigerian shipyards facilities left to rot away

Nigeria continues to miss out on the windfall accruing from vessel maintenance due to the absence of functional shipyards and dockyards, The Guardian understands.


Consequently, 1,102 Cabotage (local vessels) vessels are compelled to fulfil their repair and maintenance requirements in neighbouring countries. Numerous international vessels which dock on Nigeria’s shores also look elsewhere for maintenance.

Nigeria presently has an idle N50 billion modular floating dock acquired in June 2018 by NIMASA alongside other abandoned and inactive dockyards in the country.

This results in substantial financial losses, estimated at $147.8 million in docking fees, repair services and other additional costs for each vessel yearly.

The figure is based on a conservative single general maintenance every five years. This supposes that 220 or 20 per cent of the Nigerian vessels carry out maintenance yearly at an average cost of $670,000 (per visit).

The costs are incurred when vessels are transported to neighbouring countries for repairs and maintenance.

According to data from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria currently has a fleet of 4,610 flagged vessels with a total tonnage of 6,131,814.55 gross registered tonnage (GRT) and 1,102 cabotage vessels with a combined tonnage of 2,037,184.63 GRT.

Whereas the flagged vessels could also carry out their maintenance in Nigeria, they have the choice of doing it elsewhere. But Cabotage vessels move within the countries but would need to visit neighbouring countries for repairs.


https://guardian.ng/business-services/maritime/1102-local-vessels-rely-on-ghana-others-for-routine-maintenance/