At eastern ports, shipping stops at 6pm over insecurity, workers lament

Some port workers at Delta ports have lamented the state of insecurity along the nation eastern ports waterways, stating that once it is 6pm, ships no longer come into any eastern port out of fear of being attacked.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, the workers who are involved in stevedoring operations at Delta port, also singled out a lack of adequate amount of export cargoes for the inability of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) 10 per cent rebate incentive to drive shipping at the eastern ports.

According to the workers who wouldn’t want their names in print, “The fear of being attacked is a major reason shipping stops at the eastern ports once it is 6pm.

“The Deep Blue project has really helped to calm the situation. Ships now move freely during the day without any fear of being attacked. However, the confidence level has not really spread to evening operations. Many shipping lines will no longer come into any of the eastern ports once it is evening out of fear of being attacked.

“There is always an uneasy calm around the waterways once it is evening. Nobody wants to be a scape-goat, so once it is 6pm, we no longer receive ships at the eastern ports.”

On export, the workers revealed that the inadequate number of export cargoes coming out of the eastern ports is not encouraging enough to drive shipping activities.

“The Federal Government, through the NPA, offered concessions up to 10 per cent cuts on harbors dues for ships just to encourage the use of the eastern ports.

“But then again, trading is both ways – input and output. It is both import and export. Freight cost is doubled if there’s no commensurate export to be taken out.

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“So when the shipping lines see that there is not enough exports to be taken out of these ports, they slam double freight charges on the cargoes. That’s why cargo owners will prefer Lagos to any of the eastern ports,” they said.

Another issue is the length of the channels of most of the eastern ports. From the fairway buoys (high sea) to all the ports in the east is an average of 100km distance.

“For Delta port, it is 110km; for Calabar Port, it is 101km; for Rivers ports, it is 90km; whereas both Tin-Can and Apapa ports have barely a 10km distance from the fairway buoy to the ports.

“So due to these distances, the cost of constantly dredging the navigational channels of the eastern ports is high.

“Delta Port particularly has a niptide which basically means low tide. It is natural. Once that happens, ships can’t come in. For Warri port, there is an active NNPC pipeline buried seve meters beneath the channel. So, NPA cannot dredge beyond that. There is also the problem of a collapsed breakwater.

“These issues are the major reasons the level of shipping in Lagos is far more higher than the level of shipping in the eastern ports,” the workers told the Nigerian Tribune.