Nigeria is a major maritime nation in the Gulf of Guinea region. The country has about seven functioning seaports including Lagos Port Complex; Tin-Can Island Port Complex and Lekki Port all in Lagos State.
The Calabar Port Complex in Cross River State; the Delta Ports in Warri, Delta State, the Rivers Port Complex and Onne Port Complex, both in Rivers State.
Read also: Nigerian ports handled 707,985 containers, generated N191.4bn revenue in 6 months – Report
Apapa Port
The Lagos Port Complex also referred to as Premiere or Apapa is the earliest and largest port in Nigeria. It is situated in the Apapa area of Lagos State, the commercial centre of Nigeria.
Established in 1913, the port has five private terminals including AP Moller Terminal Ltd. (APMT), ENL Consortium Ltd. (ENL), Apapa Bulk Terminal Ltd. (ABTL), Greenview Development Nigeria Ltd. (GNDL), and Lilypond Inland Container Terminal.
Apapa Port is the biggest and busiest seaport in Nigeria in 2024, according to Trade by Custom Ports and Post of the National Bureau of Statistics.
NBS’s quarter four of 2023 report, said that the bulk of export transactions were carried through Apapa Port with goods valued at N11,979.64 billion or 94.38 percent of total exports.
Apapa Port also recorded the highest number of transactions valued at N10,830.71 billion or 76.77 percent of the total imports into Nigeria.
The Port also has two logistics bases- Eko Support Services Ltd. and Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) and eight jetties while sugar, salt, and flour are produced in factories belonging to operators within the port.
Tin-Can Island Port
Tin-Can Island Port is located northwest of the Lagos Port Complex. It was built in 1977 when the country experienced an increase in economic activities during the oil boom coupled with the post-civil war reconstruction.
The post-civil war reconstruction led to high import and export volume, resulting in serious port congestion that led to the construction of an alternative port.
The port was concessioned to five terminal operators including Josepdam Port Service Ltd; Tin-Can Island Container Terminal Ltd; Port & Cargo Handling Services and Five Star Logistics.
Tin-Can Island is the second largest and it recorded N386.79 billion or 3.05 percent of the nation’s total export.
NBS said that Tin-Can Island accounted for goods valued at N1,180.89 billion or 8.37 percent of the total import trade.
Onne Port
Onne Port Complex is situated on the Bonny River Estuary along Ogu Creek. It is one of the largest Oil and Gas Free Zone in the world supporting exploration and production for Nigerian activities.
The Port accounts for over 65 percent of the export cargo through the Nigerian seaport. Multiple operations are carried out in the port in addition to the Oil and Gas and they include general cargoes, bulk cargoes (dry and wet), oil well equipment, containerised cargoes, and other logistics services providers.
Also known as Port Harcourt 3, Onne is the third largest seaport in Nigeria.
According to NBS, Onne handled imports valued at N556.14 billion or 3.94 percent of the total imports.
In terms of exports, NBS stated that Onne Port handled exports valued at N241.26 billion within the period under review.
PTML
Ports & Terminal Multiservice Ltd (PTML) also known as Tin-Can 11 was built by a private sector operator under the built, operate, and transfer (BOT). It commenced operations in September 2006.
The port was concessioned to the Grimaldi Group which also developed the port.
It handled imports valued at N267.72 billion within the period under review.
