Africa gets two percent of global shipping trade

Alli, Folashade; Nigerian Tribune (Lagos) 2008-07-24

According to Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Mr Mallam Abdul Salam Mohammed, the total global shipping trade has made a boost as Africa takes two percent. Of that, South Africa is taking half (one percent).

The information was disclosed in Warri, Delta State at the weekend while Mallam Salam was on tour of facilities in the Delta ports. He noted that of the two percent which Africa has, South Africa takes half, leaving Nigeria and the rest of the continent to compete for the remaining one percent.

He explained that shipping companies only call at ports where their vessels are given adequate attention and are properly checked. For a long time, the NPA has not lived up to its responsibility, and so he charged staff of the authority in Delta ports to brace-up for the challenges which lie ahead.

Mallam Salam said that the country’s ports jointly handled 54 million metric tonnes of cargo during 2007, excluding crude and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) cargos.