The total volume of cargo handled in the nation’s seaports stood at 19.66 million metric tons (mmt) in the first quarter of this year, showing an increase of 14 percent over the 17.25 million metric tons (mmt) recorded in the first quarter of last year, BusinessDay has learnt.
According to the statistics released by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), general cargo including containerised goods contributed 6.32 million metric tons equivalent to 32.2 percent of the total volume. This shows a slight increase of 1.4 percent above the 6.23 million metric tons recorded in the first quarter of 2013.
Further breakdown shows that about 2.3 million metric tons of dry bulk cargo were handled at the ports in the period under review as against the 1.97 million metric tons that were handled in the same period of last year.
NPA explained that the total volume of liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment, which accounted for 27.4 percent of the entire cargo throughput rose to 5.39 million metric tons above the 3.75 million metric tons handled in the corresponding period of 2013.
However, the volume of LNG cargo handled recorded 43.8 percent while the volume of refined petroleum products handled at the ports stood at 4.61 million metric tons representing 23.5 percent of the total cargo throughput.
Also, the volume of both laden container and empty containers amounted to 426,976 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) showing a growth of 15.1 percent over the 2013 figure of 371,085 TEUs. Within the period under review, a total of 78,754 units of vehicles, representing an increase of 32.1 percent over the 2013 figure of 59,608 units, were handled.
A total of 1,327 oceangoing vessels with a Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of 33.94 million visited Nigerian seaports in the first three months of the year. This was relatively higher manuthan the 1,172 vessels with GRT of 28,830,386 handled in the first quarter of 2013.
“Generally, in the first quarter of 2014, the level of operational activities at the port witnessed a positive variance over the first quarter of 2013. This could be largely attributed to the implementation of e-payment in January 2014 which has helped in reducing turnaround time of vessels from 5.3 days to 4.6 days within the period under review”, Musa Ilya, the assistant general manager, public affairs of NPA, said.
He further attributed the increase in LNG shipment to the European economic recovery efforts after the debt crisis, which helped in growing cargo traffic.
