In the first half of the year 2024, the number of vehicles imported into Nigeria saw a significant decline of 60.8% compared to the same period in 2023, with only 10,991 units imported.
This drop is attributed to the impact of the depreciation of the naira and the general economic downturn. This information was highlighted in the report from the quarterly meeting of the Nigerian Port Consultative Council (NPCC).
Additionally, there was a 4.3% decrease in the number of ships that called at the nation’s seaports, down to 251 in H1’24 from 275 in H1’23. Despite this decline in ship calls, the Gross Tonnage of ships increased by 6.9% to 32.614 million metric tons. Cargo throughput, excluding crude oil, also showed an increase of 16.1% compared to the previous year, reaching 21.186 million metric tons.
Container traffic for the first half of 2024 stood at 398,447 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), representing a 2.3% increase from the previous year. Import containers accounted for 3.4% with 198,415 TEUs, while export container traffic decreased by 1.2% to 195,106 TEUs.
The average turn-around time for vessels improved to 4.6 days compared to 5.1 days in 2023, with the impact of the Lekki Deep Sea Port achieving an impressive one-day turn-around time. The increase in Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) is attributed to the berthing of bigger vessels, particularly at the Lekki Port where the average GRT is 3,801,191.
The report emphasized the importance of collective efforts from all stakeholders to ensure that the Lekki Deep Seaport does not face the same challenges as the Apapa port, particularly in terms of cargo evacuation efficiency.
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