A research carried out by SBM Intelligence has shown that it is 10 times costlier to move goods from the seaports in Lagos than it is to move them from the ports in Ghana and South Africa.
The Apapa and Tincan Island ports, which are Nigeria’s busiest seaports, have suffered severe traffic congestion for years due to bad roads and lack of truck parks.
Data compiled by SBM Intelligence showed that local transport from the port in Lagos costs an estimated $2,055. This is compared to $285 spent in moving goods from the Tema port in Ghana and $208 from the Durban port in South Africa.
The analysis shows that the cost of moving containers from the Apapa port within the local environ is 10 times the cost required in moving containers from the Tema port in Ghana and Durban port in South Africa.
According to the report, shipping charges from European countries to Apapa port costs $374 compared to $321 at Tema port in Ghana and $247 at Durban port in South Africa.
SBM said it tracked shipments over a period of three months to the three ports in Africa and came up with the average costs of first, shipping goods in from the EU, the terminal charges that containers pay while they are in those ports, and the average cost of local transportation from the port to selected warehouses within the port cities.
Source: Ships & Ports
