Foreign-owned trade vessels are abandoning Nigeria following rising insecurity and unfavourable government policies, Blueprint has gathered.
According to the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS), approximately 50 per cent of foreign-owned trading vessels have left Nigerian waters due to rising insecurity and unfavourable government policies in the past year.
The NCS suggests that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has resulted in a stronger market for vessels in Europe rather than Africa, causing local freight rates to increase by 70 per cent.
Stakeholders note that any vessel trading in West Africa must pay war risk insurance, this is despite the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reporting zero piracy or ship-armed-robbery incidents in Nigerian waters in the first half of 2022.
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The fact that Insecurity remains a factor driving vessels away from Nigeria is of concern to analysts, especially after the purchase of brand-new Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) in 2022 (which plummeted the Excess Crude Account).
Experts also expressed concerns regarding the $350m intervention fund created by the Federal Government to develop indigenous shipping capacity in Nigeria, which they say needs to be distributed for the maintenance of existing vessels or the acquisition of new ones.
In addition to fully operationalizing the maritime security architecture, the government must also establish modern ship fabricating and maintenance facilities to domesticate the maritime industry, according to the experts.