Security & Safety
MAERSK PULLS BACK FROM RED SEA AGAIN — WHAT IT MEANS FOR WEST AFRICAN SHIPPING
MAERSK PULLS BACK FROM RED SEA AGAIN — WHAT IT MEANS FOR WEST AFRICAN SHIPPING
The world’s largest container line has reversed course on its Red Sea comeback, raising fresh concerns for Nigerian importers and shippers already navigating tight supply chains.
Danish shipping giant Maersk has announced a temporary withdrawal from the Suez–Red Sea corridor on two of its major services, just weeks after cautiously resuming transits through the troubled waterway.
In a customer advisory dated February 27, the carrier described the move as “temporary adjustments” affecting its ME11 and MECL services — but for cargo interests across West Africa, the implications could be anything but temporary.
Why Maersk Is Turning Back
The company cited what it called “unforeseen constraints” stemming from the wider operating environment in the Red Sea region. After consultations with security partners, Maersk concluded that reliably avoiding delays through the area had become too difficult to guarantee.
As a result, several upcoming voyages on both affected services will be diverted away from the Suez Canal and rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope — adding thousands of nautical miles, additional sailing days, and higher fuel costs to each voyage.
The Services Affected
The MECL service — an independently operated route linking Saudi Arabia and other Middle East ports with the U.S. East Coast — will see its next three eastbound and westbound sailings rerouted via southern Africa through mid-March.
More significantly, the ME11 service connecting India and the Middle East to the Mediterranean will have its next three westbound and four eastbound voyages diverted around the Cape. The ME11 operates under the Gemini Cooperation, the vessel-sharing alliance between Maersk and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, giving the decision added weight across the industry.
Maersk said it was giving customers three weeks’ notice to adjust supply chain plans, with updated transport schedules to follow.
A Fragile Return Unravels
The reversal is notable for its timing. Just over two weeks ago, a Maersk vessel completed the first eastbound Suez transit on the reinstated ME11 route — a carefully watched moment that many in the shipping world had hoped signalled a durable return to the corridor.
That optimism now appears premature. Earlier in January, Maersk had cautioned that sailings through the region would depend on stable security conditions and reliable naval protection. Those conditions, it now says, are not holding consistently enough.
Security Challenges Persist
The broader security picture in the Red Sea remains uneasy. Yemen’s Houthi movement has made intermittent threats, though no confirmed attacks on merchant vessels have been recorded since last September. Meanwhile, rising U.S.-Iran tensions and an expanded American naval presence in the Middle East have added layers of unpredictability to the region.
On the protection side, the European Union’s maritime security mission, Operation Aspides — which deploys three warships to escort commercial vessels through the corridor — was recently extended through February 2027. However, limited escort capacity has created scheduling bottlenecks, with French carrier CMA CGM previously flagging long waits for available naval cover as a major operational headache.
What This Means for Nigerian Shippers
For cargo stakeholders in Nigeria and across the Gulf of Guinea, renewed Red Sea disruptions carry direct consequences. Longer Cape of Good Hope routings push up transit times and freight costs — pressures that typically filter through to Nigerian importers and end consumers.
The ME11 service in particular feeds cargo flows between Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, with knock-on effects for connecting services that serve West African ports. Any sustained return to Cape routing by major carriers would likely tighten vessel availability and complicate scheduling on feeder and direct services calling at Nigerian terminals.
Industry watchers say Maersk’s decision could prompt other carriers to slow or reconsider their own Red Sea comeback plans — further prolonging a disruption that has reshaped global shipping patterns since late 2023.
Maersk maintains the rerouting is short-term and continues to describe the Suez corridor as the fastest, most sustainable option for customers. But as confidence in the route proves fragile once again, the Cape of Good Hope remains, for now, the safer bet.
Waterways News NG will continue to monitor developments in the Red Sea and their implications for Nigerian and West African maritime trade.
— Waterways News NG | www.waterwaysnews.ng
BOAT OPERATORS ARE THE FIRST RESPONDERS ON THE LAGOON
.…..Carter bridge rescue exposes gap
By Oghenewoke Osaweren | Waterways News
Lagos, Nigeria. For the second time in just over a year, informal boat operators, not any designated emergency service, were the ones who pulled a woman alive from the Lagos Lagoon after she jumped from Carter Bridge, raising fresh questions about who is actually responsible for water rescue on one of Africa’s busiest urban waterways.
The unidentified woman jumped from the Idumota end of the bridge on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 4. Eyewitnesses said local boat operators working within the area reacted within moments, pulling her from the water before she could be swept further into the lagoon’s currents. Video circulating on social media shows her seated inside a wooden canoe, visibly disoriented, as bystanders on the bridge above shouted down, some pleading with the operators not to hand her over to the police, others audibly distressed and asking what could have driven her to the water’s edge.
A PATTERN AT THE SAME BRIDGE
This is not an isolated site incident. In July 2025, a separate woman was intercepted at the same Carter Bridge location, that time by police Rapid Response Squad officers on routine patrol, before she entered the water. Tuesday’s case had no such patrol presence. The outcome depended entirely on boat operators who happened to be working nearby.
Carter Bridge, opened in 1901, is one of only three crossings linking Lagos Island to the mainland, alongside Eko and Third Mainland bridges, and sits directly over lagoon waters used daily by commercial boat traffic, artisanal fishermen and ferry operators. That density of water traffic is precisely why informal operators keep ending up as the default emergency responders, they are simply the ones already on the water when someone goes in.
NO FORMAL WATER RESCUE MANDATE
Neither the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) nor the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) operates a dedicated, publicised rapid-response rescue protocol for bridge-jump incidents on Lagos waterways, despite the lagoon’s role as a primary transport corridor for hundreds of thousands of commuters. Search-and-rescue capacity for road-based emergencies sits with the police and, in some cases, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) but water incidents routinely fall to whichever boat happens to be nearest, with no formal reporting chain back to state authorities on outcomes, casualty data or referral to mental health support afterward.
That gap matters beyond this single case. Nigeria records among the highest estimated suicide rates in West Africa according to World Health Organization modelling, yet has no national suicide prevention strategy comparable to those adopted elsewhere on the continent, and Lagos, a lagoon city where bridges double as the tallest accessible points over open water, has no publicly documented protocol connecting bridge surveillance, water rescue and post-rescue mental health referral into a single chain of response.
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE RESCUE
As of the time of filing, the woman’s identity, condition and the circumstances that led to the incident remain undisclosed. It is not yet known whether she was handed to police, taken to a hospital, or released, despite the pleas heard on video against police involvement, a detail that itself reflects a wider public wariness in Lagos toward treating suicide attempts as a criminal matter rather than a medical one. The Lagos State government had not issued a statement at the time of this report.
This story concerns a suicide attempt. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to a trusted person, a doctor, or a crisis line for support.
Fire Breaks Out at Bono Tank Farm in Olodi-Apapa, Cause Yet Unknown
By Oghenewoke Osaweren | Waterways News
Firefighters were on Friday battling a blaze at Bono Tank Farm in the Coconut area of Olodi-Apapa, Lagos, one of several petroleum storage facilities lining the busy Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway corridor.
The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service confirmed the incident, with its spokesperson, Shakiru Amodu, stating that crews had been deployed to the scene to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to adjoining tank farms and energy installations in the densely industrialised zone.
As at press time, the cause of the fire remained unconfirmed, and there was no official word on casualties or the scale of damage to the facility. Authorities said updates on the investigation and the outcome of firefighting efforts would follow as operations continued.
Nigeria Watch: The blaze once again puts a spotlight on the fire safety architecture around Apapa’s tank farm cluster, an area with concentrations of petroleum storage in the country. Recurring incidents of this kind raise familiar questions for regulators, terminal operators, and depot owners alike: are inspection regimes, firefighting readiness, and emergency evacuation protocols keeping pace with the volume and proximity of fuel storage in the corridor?
With Nigeria’s downstream sector expanding rapidly on the back of Dangote Refinery output and rising import substitution, incidents like this one underline why depot safety compliance deserves the same regulatory urgency being applied to port and vessel safety elsewhere in the sector.
Security & Safety
Marine Litter Crisis Threatens Nigeria’s Blue Economy Ambitions as Waterways Choke on Plastic Waste
Marine Litter Crisis Threatens Nigeria’s Blue Economy Ambitions as Waterways Choke on Plastic Waste
From Ikoyi waterfront to the Bonny-Port Harcourt corridor, plastic debris, abandoned fishing nets and industrial refuse are clogging Nigeria’s inland and coastal waterways — damaging vessels, imperilling livelihoods and undermining the nation’s maritime growth agenda.
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Lagos Correspondent
Nigeria’s ambition to unlock the full economic potential of its blue economy is facing a stubborn and worsening adversary — marine litter. Across the country’s 853-kilometre coastline, and deep into its network of rivers, creeks, lagoons and inland waterways, plastic waste, styrofoam, discarded fishing gear and household refuse are accumulating at a rate that threatens to undermine the shipping, fisheries, tourism and inland transport sectors simultaneously.
The alarm has grown sharper in the days surrounding World Ocean Day, observed globally on June 8, which this year placed particular emphasis on the marine litter crisis and its direct threat to sustainable blue economy development — a framework central to the mandate of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.
Nigeria Among the World’s Top Plastic Waste Generators
The scale of the problem is stark. According to World Bank data, Nigeria generates an estimated 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, with only a fraction entering any form of recycling process. The overwhelming majority ends up in open dumpsites, drainage channels and, ultimately, waterways — driven by inadequate waste collection infrastructure, rapid urbanisation and poor environmental compliance culture.
The global picture is no less alarming. The United Nations warns that 14 million tonnes of plastic enter the world’s oceans every year — a figure projected to nearly double to 27 million tonnes by 2040 if current trajectories are not reversed. The economic cost, according to the UN, stands at approximately $13 billion annually, with over 817 marine species threatened. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has further estimated that plastic accounts for at least 85 per cent of all marine waste.
For Nigeria’s maritime sector specifically, the Regional Coordinator for Africa at Prevention of Marine Litter in the Gulf of Guinea (PROTEGO), Clem Ugorji, has put the country’s direct financial losses from poor waste management and marine litter at $1 billion per year — a figure that demands the attention of port operators, shipping companies, waterways transport concessionaires and maritime regulators alike.
Operational Hazards for Vessels and Waterway Operators
The consequences extend well beyond environmental degradation. For Nigeria’s inland waterways transport (IWT) sector — already strained by underinvestment, ageing fleets and safety concerns — marine litter represents a direct operational and safety hazard.
The Lagos Area Manager of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Sarat Braimah, has raised the alarm in clear terms. Floating debris, she warned, is routinely sucked into vessel water intakes, wrapping around propeller shafts and clogging engine cooling systems. The result is sudden engine failure mid-journey — leaving passenger ferries, water taxis and speedboats dangerously exposed to capsizing or collision with larger commercial vessels navigating shared waterways.
Braimah noted that once plastics, cans and nylon bags enter water bodies rather than shore-based waste receptacles, the damage is immediate: marine life is choked, water quality degrades, and toxins enter the aquatic food chain that coastal communities depend on for sustenance and income.
The situation deteriorates markedly during the annual rainy season, when residents dump refuse into drainage channels already clogged with accumulated waste, and floodwaters carry massive volumes of debris directly into creeks, lagoons and offshore waters — compounding a maritime environmental emergency that recurs year after year.
Fisheries, Coastal Communities and the Hidden Human Cost
Beyond vessel operations, the impact on Nigeria’s artisanal fishing communities is severe. Fishermen across coastal and riverine states report persistently damaged gear, declining catches and increasingly contaminated fishing grounds. Scientists have raised growing concerns about microplastics — particles formed as larger plastic items break down — which now enter marine food chains and, through seafood consumption, ultimately reach the human population. UNEP has warned that plastic pollution now constitutes a direct threat to food security and public health at a global scale.
Coastal communities in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Lagos and other littoral states, many of which depend almost exclusively on fishing and waterway-based trade, bear the sharpest end of this crisis — absorbing health risks, economic losses and environmental degradation simultaneously.
Private Sector Steps Up: NSML’s Clean Waterways Initiative
In the absence of a fully integrated national marine litter strategy, it is increasingly the private maritime sector that has moved to fill the gap. One notable actor is NLNG Shipping and Marine Services Limited (NSML), which has expanded its Clean Waterways Initiative (CWI) — a corporate social responsibility programme targeting the waterway corridor between the NLNG Jetty in Port Harcourt and the operating terminal on Bonny Island in Rivers State.
Operating through a “Triple A” framework of Awareness, Advocacy and Action, NSML engages riverine communities on the health and economic dangers of plastic pollution, partners with local governments to improve waste disposal and recycling infrastructure, and conducts quarterly large-scale clean-up exercises to physically remove debris from affected water bodies. The company has recently expanded these activities to include the Bonny Island waterfronts on a regular basis.
NSML Chief Executive Abdulkadir Ahmed described the initiative as a direct response to the growing volume of plastic waste and debris entering rivers, creeks and coastal waters — and stressed that lasting progress requires both regulatory backing and individual behavioural change.
“Advocacy is about engaging government agencies and regulatory bodies so that we can have the necessary backing to take action,” Ahmed said. “We are beginning to see some positive impact from these efforts, and we are not alone in this fight because plastic pollution is a global issue.”
Ahmed was forthright that clean-up exercises, though essential, are insufficient on their own. What is needed, he argued, is consistent individual action and a fundamental reduction in dependence on single-use plastics — combined with the enforcement frameworks and industry accountability that only government can provide.
IMO Sets 2030 Zero-Discharge Target
At the global regulatory level, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has sharpened its response. Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, in his World Oceans Day statement, announced the adoption of the IMO’s 2026 Strategy and Action Plan aimed at eliminating plastic waste discharges from shipping, with a headline target of zero plastic discharge to sea from ships by 2030.
Dominguez acknowledged that progress is being recorded on pollution control, biodiversity protection and climate action within the global shipping industry, but stressed that considerably more coordinated international effort is required. He called specifically for stronger regulatory frameworks to curb plastic pollution, address underwater radiated noise, and manage the spread of transboundary marine species — and urged a fundamental rethinking of humanity’s relationship with the ocean.
Nigeria Watch: What This Means for the Maritime Sector
For Nigeria’s maritime and blue economy stakeholders, the convergence of World Ocean Day, the IMO’s 2030 commitment and NSML’s expanded private-sector initiative carries a pointed message: the window to get ahead of the marine litter crisis is narrowing.
Nigeria still lacks the fully integrated national marine litter strategy that the scale of its waterways challenge demands — one that combines waste management reform, robust recycling infrastructure, regulatory enforcement, public education and industry-wide accountability. The Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, NIMASA, NIWA, LASWA and the Nigerian Ports Authority each have roles to play, but coordination between them on environmental governance remains limited.
The stakes for the maritime sector are concrete. Navigational hazards from floating debris inflate vessel maintenance costs, increase accident risk on passenger ferry routes, and degrade the operating environment for port authorities, shipping companies and terminal concessionaires. Every kilometre of waterway choked with litter is a direct tax on trade competitiveness and investor confidence in Nigeria’s blue economy promise.
With the IMO’s 2030 zero-discharge target now formally on the table, Nigeria’s maritime operators — and the regulators that oversee them — face a tightening timeline to demonstrate that the country’s waterways can meet international environmental governance standards. The infrastructure investment, policy coherence and enforcement will required to do so is not trivial. But the cost of inaction, measured in vessel damage, lost catches, degraded coastlines and stunted blue economy growth, will ultimately prove far higher.
Waterways News | waterwaysnews.ng
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