The unending Apapa gridlock has adversely affected the cost of shipping containers into the country, the ugly trend has seen the cost surge by 600 percent. There are over 100,000 containers processed monthly at the Lagos seaports.
Shipping companies currently charge $6,000 to ship a container to the country, shippers in Nigeria spend $600 million (N234 billion) monthly to move 100,000 containers to Nigeria.
Due to the gridlock around the ports, millions of containers are stuck in the ports, while shipping companies have had to remain at anchorage for three to four months, thereby piling more cost on shippers.
During the first half of 2020, shipping a 20-foot container cost $1,000 from the Far East. The amount has risen exponentially to between $5,5oo to $6,000 for the same container size.
This development has led to a 1,000 percent rise in the cost of haulage for cargoes from ₦100,000 to about ₦1,200,000.
As a result of the congestion at Tincan Port and Apapa Ports, shipping lines have begun diverting Nigeria-bound cargoes to neighboring countries. According to experts, this development contributes to Nigeria’s worsening inflation.
