By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A report released on Wednesday, February 8, 2017 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that a total of 19,833 vessels berthed at the various ports in the country between 2013 and 2016.
In the report titled ‘Shipping & Port Activities 2013-2016’ and obtained by Business Post, it was also disclosed that the ship traffic statistics at Nigerian ports showed 543,842,425 tonnages were registered within the period under review.
It was stated that the year 2014 recorded the highest number of vessels berthed as well as tonnages registered while the least were recorded in 2016.
Tin Can Island Port handled the most ships accounting for 33 percent of total number of ships that berthed in all ports and 32 percent of total tonnage registered in all ports.
It is closely followed by Apapa port which accounted for 28 percent of ships that berthed and 25 percent of total tonnage registered and Onne port which accounted for 15 percent of ships that berthed and 30 percent of total tonnage registered.
Also, cargo traffic statistics revealed a total of 312,185,808 cargo traffic was recorded at all Nigerian ports between 2013 and 2016.
Furthermore, 196,851,236 or 63 percent of the cargo traffic were inwards while 115, 334572 or 37 percent were outward.
It was also indicated in the report that Apapa port handled the most number of inward cargoes accounting for 39 percent of total inward cargoes and closely followed by Tin Can Island and Delta ports accounting for 31 percent and 11 percent respectively.
Similarly, Calabar port accounted for 4.29 percent to record the least and Onne ports handled the most number of outward cargoes accounting for 80 percent of total outward cargoes and closely followed by Delta and Apapa ports accounting for 10.63 percent and 3.52 percent respectively. Calabar port accounted for 0.05 percent to record the least.
The number of passenger traffic within the period under was put at 52,262 while the highest number of passenger traffic was recorded in 2013.
Business Post learnt that the number of vessels that berthed at the Apapa Port has been dropping gradually from 1,510 in 2013 to 1,097 in 2016 while the Gross Registered Tonnage at the Port Peaked at 37,041,879 in 2014 and dropped to 31,032,377 in 2016.
also, the number of vessels that berthed at the Tin Can Island Port increased from 1,615 in 2013 to 1,774 in 2015 and later dropped in 2016 to 1,414 while the Gross Registered Tonnage at the Port Peaked at 48,435,584 in 2015 and dropped to 40,674,982 in 2016.
In the report also, the number of vessels that berthed at the Delta Port dropped from 609 in 2013 to 433 in 2016 while the Gross Registered Tonnage at the Port also dropped from 8,687,160 in 2013 to 6,177,809 in 2016.
For the Rivers Port, the number of vessels that berthed dropped from 439 in 2013 to 287 in 2016 while the Gross Registered Tonnage at the Port also dropped from 6,761,057 in 2014 to 4,560,844 in 2016.
A look at the Onne port revealed that the number of vessels that berthed declined from 847 in 2014 to 605 in 2016 while the Gross Registered Tonnage at the Port also dropped from 43,916,846 in 2014 to 35,937,547 in 2016 and that of Calabar port recorded a fall from 373 in 2013 to 189 in 2016 while the Gross Registered Tonnage which peaked at 4,087,599 in 2015 dropped to 3,803,199 in 2016.
In summary, the number of vessels that berthed at all the Ports dropped from 5,369 in 2013 to 4,025 in 2016 while the Gross Registered Tonnage dropped from 146,820,488 in 2014 to 122,186,758 in 2016.
Business Post gathered that the total number of passenger traffic at the ports peaked at 12,418 in 2013 and dropped to 2,473 in 2015 and later increased to 12,861 in 2016.
