Indigenous shipowners have called for cargo guarantees to boost local shipping operations amid the planned rehabilitation of Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, saying access to cargoes would encourage investment in vessels and strengthen their participation in Nigeria’s maritime industry.
This is just as they advocated for an open ship registry to attract more vessels to the Nigerian flag and strengthen the country’s competitiveness in the global shipping industry.
The calls were made on Friday during a panel discussion at the 2026 World Maritime Day celebration in Lagos under the theme, “From Policy to Practice: Strengthening Nigeria’s Blue Economy.”
Speaking during the discussion, Chairman, Starsz Marine Investment Limited Engr. Greg Ogbeifun represented by the General Manager, Maritime Shipping and Ocean International Resources Limited, Seyi Oluyede said the government needed to provide cargo guarantees for indigenous shipowners, stressing that local operators required assurance of cargo availability to justify investments in vessels.
She cited the recent £746 million Nigeria–United Kingdom ports infrastructure deal for the rehabilitation and modernisation of Apapa and Tin Can Island ports as an example of the opportunities that could support indigenous shipping businesses.
Under the agreement, at least £236 million worth of contracts are expected to go to British firms, including a £70 million steel supply agreement awarded to British Steel for the supply of 120,000 tonnes of steel billets to construction firms Hitech Nigeria and ITB Nigeria for the port upgrades.
“These are areas that we can look at and say, yes, there is cargo to be carried. The indigenous practitioners can go and look for the asset and ensure that it is deployed, ” she said.
Oluyede argued that while the government had introduced policies to promote local participation in shipping, their implementation needed to be reviewed to ensure that indigenous operators could benefit from available cargoes.
She questioned how local shipowners could invest in vessels without adequate assurance that cargoes would be available for transportation.
“The MD of NSML has said that it is important for you to have an asset — ships — but how then can you have an asset when you don’t have the cargo guarantees?” she asked.
She urged the government to review relevant provisions of the law governing cargo carriage to ensure that indigenous shipowners could participate more effectively in transporting cargoes generated by government activities and projects.
According to her, cargoes associated with major infrastructure projects could provide opportunities for local operators to expand their fleets and build capacity, provided they were given access to the business.
Oloyede also advocated greater private-sector participation in policymaking, saying indigenous operators should be involved in assessing the practicality of policies to ensure they delivered the desired results.
On ship registration, the Chief Executive Officer, Sea Transport Services Nigerian Limited, Aminu Umar, urged the government to consider opening Nigeria’s ship registry to attract more vessels and improve the country’s competitiveness in the international shipping industry.
Umar said Nigeria should look beyond increasing the number of vessels flying its flag domestically and aim to position Nigerian-flagged ships to operate in the global shipping market.
He said an open registry would improve the country’s competitiveness and attract more vessels, while stressing the need to understand the factors influencing shipowners’ decisions when choosing where to register their vessels.
“We should see Nigerian-flagged vessels trading globally. I think that is what we should be targeting,” he said.
“If we want to maintain a closed registry, then it will affect the number of ships that come into the registry because there are some conditions that you put in place which will make it impossible for any other person who is not a Nigerian to be able to register a ship in Nigeria because that is what we are practicing now. So maybe, as I said, part of the improvement in the policy is to look at whether we want to open up the registry so that we can be able to compete with the Liberian flag, the Marshall Island flag, and also the Maltese flag.
“I think this is something that the policy makers should look at because it would be advantageous if we can open up the ship registry, ” he said.
On seafarer development, Umar called for sustained engagement between shipowners, regulators and training institutions to identify the factors affecting the employment of Nigerian seafarers in the international shipping industry.
He said possible gaps in certification, training and professional standards needed to be addressed to improve the global employability of Nigerian maritime professionals.
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