Mad rush for deep seaports: Where are the cargoes?
In March 2006, the nation's seaports were concessioned to private Terminal Operators after a bidding process that saw the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) letting go of its traditional cargo handling functions to become the port landlord. In the last 12 years, the privatisation programme in the ports sector has been credited with taking our yearly cargo throughput from 35 million TEUs to about 80 million, leading to unprecedented challenges at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports. In the intervening years, there has been a gradual shift by governments and investors to invest in deep seaports in the country. This is to further broaden the shipping horizon so that bigger vessels can call at our ports with economies of scale.
By definition, a deep seaport is one that has the capability to acco...