Blue Economy
APM Terminals Pledges Fresh $600m Investment in Nigeria’s Ports as Tinubu Courts Investors at Kigali Forum
APM Terminals Pledges Fresh $600m Investment in Nigeria’s Ports as Tinubu Courts Investors at Kigali Forum
Global terminal operator reaffirms long-term commitment to Nigerian maritime sector; IFC also eyes strategic partnership on energy and transport infrastructure
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News Correspondent
Global port and terminal operator APM Terminals has announced a fresh investment commitment of $600 million into Nigeria’s port and logistics infrastructure, in what industry observers are describing as one of the most significant capital pledges in the sector since the landmark port concession reforms of 2006.
The announcement, made on Thursday on the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, came during a bilateral meeting between President Bola Tinubu and senior leadership of APM Terminals — the port management arm of Danish shipping giant A.P. Møller-Mærsk, which currently handles close to half of all containerised cargo passing through Nigerian ports.
Presidential spokesman Sunday Dare, who briefed journalists after the meeting, said the discussions centred on expanding Nigeria’s port capacity and logistics infrastructure, with the company’s executives reaffirming their long-term strategic interest in the country.
APM’s Nigerian Footprint
APM Terminals already operates across three critical nodes of Nigeria’s maritime and hinterland logistics network. The company manages the Apapa Container Terminal — the busiest container handling facility in West Africa’s largest economy — as well as the West African Container Terminal (WACT) at the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone in Rivers State, and an inland container depot in Kano, serving the country’s densely populated northern hinterland.
Collectively, these facilities position APM Terminals as the dominant private operator within Nigeria’s concessioned port system, a role it has held since the Federal Government’s port commercialisation programme transferred terminal management from the Nigerian Ports Authority to private concessionaires nearly two decades ago.
The fresh $600 million commitment builds on a trajectory of recent capital deployment. In September 2024 — less than two years ago — the company launched a $115 million upgrade and expansion project at WACT Onne, targeted at boosting capacity and modernising cargo handling equipment at the Rivers State facility. The latest pledge, if fully executed, would dwarf that earlier outlay and signals a material escalation in the company’s Nigeria strategy.
A Landmark Moment for Port Investment
Sunday Dare described the scale of the commitment in emphatic terms, characterising it as among the largest single private investments in Nigeria’s port and logistics sector since the port reform era that reshaped the industry in 2006. That reform, which saw the NPA exit terminal operations and hand management to private concessionaires under long-term lease agreements, fundamentally transformed the country’s port landscape — but has also been a subject of recurring controversy, particularly around concession renewal terms, revenue sharing, and the pace of capital expenditure by operators.
The timing of the announcement is therefore significant. The port concession agreements signed in 2006 are now approaching the end of their initial tenures, and both the Federal Government and private terminal operators have been engaged in protracted negotiations over renewal terms. A public commitment of this magnitude from APM Terminals — one of the most commercially credible names in global port management — could be read as a signal that at least one major operator has reached sufficient comfort with the emerging regulatory framework to stake fresh capital.
Tinubu’s Investment Offensive
The Kigali commitment forms part of a broader investment diplomacy campaign by the Tinubu administration, which has positioned the Africa CEO Forum — an annual gathering of senior business leaders and heads of state — as a platform for attracting foreign direct investment into Nigeria’s infrastructure-heavy sectors.
Dare said the President held a series of high-level meetings following his participation in the forum’s plenary session, targeting strategic partners in energy, housing, transport, and extractive industries.
Among the most consequential was a session with executives of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector-focused arm of the World Bank Group. According to Dare, the discussions covered four key investment areas, with the IFC expressing readiness to deploy capital and technical support into Nigeria’s energy and power infrastructure.
“They will be sending a mission to Nigeria as soon as the President approves it,” Dare said, adding: “When it comes in, you have employment for our people, they will pay taxes, the factory lines will come alive. The benefits of such investment eventually percolate through the economy.”
The IFC mission, if confirmed, would mark a significant step forward in multilateral financing engagement with Nigeria’s infrastructure gap — a gap that has long constrained port productivity, given the centrality of road, rail, and power connectivity to port throughput efficiency.
Solid Minerals Investors Also in the Mix
Beyond the maritime and financial sectors, Tinubu also held talks in Kigali with a consortium of solid minerals investors currently active in Guinea, who are now exploring the possibility of replicating their integrated model in Nigeria.
Dare described the group’s approach as combining mining operations with infrastructure development — a model that has attracted growing attention in West African resource economies seeking to maximise value addition from extractive activities.
“They are interested in coming to invest in Nigeria. They are into an integrated approach — that is infrastructure, mining and all that goes with it,” Dare said. Nigeria’s solid minerals sector, long overshadowed by the oil and gas industry, has been a stated priority of the Tinubu administration, which has signalled ambitions to diversify the country’s export revenue base.
Nigeria Watch | What the $600m Means for Port Stakeholders
For freight forwarders, terminal operators, shipowners, and cargo interests operating within Nigeria’s ports, the APM Terminals pledge carries direct operational implications — though the devil, as always, will be in the details of implementation.
If the investment is directed primarily at Apapa — Nigeria’s premier container port — it could translate into critical upgrades to quay infrastructure, yard handling equipment, and draught depth, all of which directly affect vessel call size, turnaround times, and ultimately, the cost of doing business at the port. Apapa has for years struggled with congestion, inadequate infrastructure, and logistics bottlenecks that impose significant costs on importers and exporters alike.
However, industry watchers will note that capital commitments of this scale announced at diplomatic forums do not always translate swiftly into ground-level activity. The port concession renewal negotiations between the Federal Government and terminal operators remain unresolved in key aspects, and the contractual framework underpinning any new investment will need to be finalised before spades go in the ground.
What is beyond dispute is the signal value of Thursday’s announcement. In a period of global investor caution toward frontier markets, a $600 million commitment from a firm of APM Terminals’ standing — backed by the balance sheet of A.P. Møller-Mærsk — represents a strong endorsement of Nigeria’s port sector prospects. For the NPA, the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, the task now is to ensure the enabling environment is in place to convert that confidence into cranes, berths, and capacity.
Oyetola Woos Turkish Investors for Fisheries Sector, Vows to Protect Artisanal Fishers
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, has thrown Nigeria’s fisheries sector open to Turkish investment, insisting that any fresh capital coming into the industry must strengthen and not sideline the millions of Nigerians who depend on artisanal fishing for a living.
Oyetola made the pledge while receiving a delegation from Turkish fisheries and aquaculture firm CRD Impex, led by the company’s General Manager for Fisheries, Cem Tarhan, at his Abuja office. He told the investors the Federal Government was ready to create an investment-friendly climate for credible local and foreign players willing to bring capital, technology and modern value-chain solutions to the sector, on condition that such investment remains inclusive.
“We welcome investors who can bring capital, technology, expertise and modern value-chain solutions to the sector. However, investment must be inclusive and sustainable. It must complement and empower our artisanal fish producers, not undermine their livelihoods,” the Minister said
He listed inadequate infrastructure, poor access to modern fishing technology, weak cold-chain systems, limited processing and storage capacity, and gaps in market access as the major constraints holding back the sector, framing each as an opening for targeted investment rather than a dead end.
The Turkish team, which included CRD Impex founder Hanefi Cardak and Tetra Underwater Services founder Ersun Buyukgoze, toured key fisheries and aquaculture points around the country to size up the terrain first-hand. Stops included the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal in Lagos, the Ozumba Mbadiwe Fish Market in Lekki, and the Esuk Nsidung Beach Market, a major waterfront seafood hub in Calabar, Cross River State.
The Ministry described the visit as part of a broader push to attract serious investment into Nigeria’s blue economy while keeping the welfare of artisanal fishers central to that growth.
Nigeria Watch
The Turkish courtesy call lands squarely in the pattern this desk has tracked all year: big-ticket investment pledges for Nigeria’s waterways, paired with familiar assurances that the small operator won’t be crowded out. The test, as always, is what happens after the photo-op.
Nigeria’s artisanal fishing communities occupy the same economic space as the informal boat operators represented by WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, river- and creek-dependent Nigerians whose livelihoods rise or fall on decisions made far from the waterfront. The infrastructure gaps Oyetola cited which include, weak cold-chain systems, poor storage and limited market access, all mirror the exact complaints this desk has documented from inland waterway operators for years but modernisation announced from Abuja rarely reache the jetties.
Turkish capital chasing Nigerian fisheries and aquaculture is a genuinely new thread, distinct from the Strait of Hormuz shipping story or the CVFF disbursement saga this desk has followed closely. But the underlying question is the same one that has defined Oyetola’s tenure at the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy: will “inclusive investment” translate into contracts, cooperative partnerships and cold-chain infrastructure that artisanal operators can actually use or will it, like so many blue-economy pledges before it, stall at the courtesy-visit stage?
Waterways News will be watching for the first concrete CRD Impex commitment — site, timeline, or local partnership — as the marker of whether this one is different.
NPERA, NPA Open Technical Talks on Handover of Inland Dry Port Functions
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
The Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have begun formal engagement on transferring inland dry port oversight to NPERA, marking the start of what both agencies describe as a critical phase in operationalising Nigeria’s new port regulatory framework.
At a management-level meeting between the two agencies, officials focused on the technical groundwork for the handover, chiefly how to draw clear lines of responsibility and avoid duplication among the government bodies with a stake in inland dry port administration.
NPERA’s Director-General/CEO, Dr Akutah Pius, framed the transition as flowing directly from the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, whom he credited with steering the process toward the sector’s broader development. Akutah was emphatic that NPERA could not carry out the transfer alone, and said the buy-in of every relevant stakeholder agency would be needed to see it through.
He indicated that the Ministry would stay central to coordinating the process even as specific mandates move to the agencies best placed to execute them. Akutah also pointed to the Minister’s earlier interventions during the NPERA Bill’s passage through the National Assembly, which he said had defused inter-agency friction and set the stage for the cooperation now underway.
Describing the purpose of the meeting, Akutah said it was meant to formally kick off the transfer of inland dry port responsibilities to NPERA in fulfilment of its statutory role as economic regulator of the ports sector. He singled out Section 51 of the NPERA Act as a provision that now needs to be put into practical effect to keep the transition orderly and ensure stakeholder roles are properly aligned.
To manage the process going forward, the NPERA boss proposed setting up a joint committee drawing in NPERA, NPA, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. He argued that inland dry ports matter well beyond the coastline. They extend maritime sector benefits into Nigeria’s hinterland and reinforce the country’s trade and logistics chain.
Responding on behalf of NPA, Managing Director Dr Abubakar Dantsoho welcomed the move and pledged his agency’s full operational and technical backing throughout the transition. He said the process had started on the right footing, and that NPA would furnish updated data on the current state of inland dry ports to inform further discussions, expressing confidence that continued engagement would help the agencies meet their shared objectives.
NPA’s Executive Director, Engr. Lekan Badmus, also commended NPERA for setting the collaboration in motion, calling the meeting a solid first step toward a smooth integration. He noted the two agencies have now moved into the technical phase of the exercise, with close attention being paid to eliminating overlapping functions.
Closing the meeting, Akutah said the proposed joint committee would reconvene with the Minister to seek further guidance and agree on next steps to keep the transition on track.
Nigeria Watch
This meeting is the first visible test of whether the NPERA Act’s promise of a rationalised port regulatory architecture can survive contact with Nigeria’s crowded agency landscape. Section 51’s transfer of inland dry port functions to NPERA looks straightforward on paper; in practice, it touches NPA’s traditional port administration turf, NIWA’s inland waterways mandate, and the Ministry’s coordinating role all at once, precisely the kind of overlapping jurisdiction that has bedevilled reform efforts elsewhere in the sector, most visibly in the long-running NIWA-LASWA tussle that only the Supreme Court could settle.
The proposed joint committee of NPERA, NPA, NIWA, and the Ministry, is a sensible mechanism, but Waterways News readers who have followed the CVFF disbursement saga know that Nigerian maritime governance has no shortage of well-designed committees whose outputs never quite reach implementation. What will matter is whether Akutah’s “technical phase” produces a binding timeline, not another round of goodwill statements.
For inland dry port operators and the hinterland trade corridors that depend on them, the stakes are practical: unclear jurisdiction between NPA and NPERA has historically meant slower cargo evacuation, duplicated levies, and uncertainty for freight forwarders planning routes away from the congested Lagos ports. If this transition is handled well, it strengthens the case for dry ports as genuine pressure valves for Apapa and Tin Can. If it stalls in inter-agency turf negotiation, it becomes one more entry in the gap between policy pronouncement and delivery that this desk continues to track.
Worth watching: whether Minister Oyetola’s office sets an explicit deadline when the committee reconvenes, and whether NIWA, whose inland waterways mandate intersects with dry port hinterland connectivity, gets more than a seat at the table.
Two More Tankers Struck in Strait of Hormuz as Attack Count Hits Five in a Week
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
Two more tankers have been hit while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, leaving two seafarers with minor injuries and pushing the number of reported attacks or security incidents against commercial vessels in the waterway to at least five since 16 September.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said an inbound tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile on Monday. Two crew members sustained minor injuries, but the vessel stayed under its own power and continued to its next port, with no environmental impact reported.
Hours later, UKMTO issued a second alert after an outbound LPG tanker reported being struck by debris from unknown projectiles. All crew were reported safe and the vessel also continued its voyage. Authorities are investigating both incidents, and UKMTO has not attributed either attack to a specific actor.
The two strikes build on a Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) advisory covering three earlier attacks between 16 and 18 September, one of which saw a tanker’s hull breached by a projectile, sparking a fire. JMIC continues to rate the threat level in the strait as “severe,” citing a high likelihood of deliberate hostile action and pointing to a pattern of harassment by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — drone overflights, surveillance of merchant vessels and VHF hailing, alongside the direct attacks.
Traffic through the chokepoint remains sharply depressed. Only 17 commodity vessels were visibly transiting over the weekend, down from 37 the week before and against a pre-war daily average of roughly 125. That figure excludes vessels sailing with their AIS transponders switched off, and JMIC notes a persistent gap between visible and actual traffic.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigerian maritime stakeholders, the Hormuz crisis is no longer a distant Gulf story. It is a cost line. Every fresh escalation feeds directly into the war-risk insurance premiums and freight rates that Nigerian importers, refiners and shipping agents ultimately absorb, since global tanker and container capacity pulled off the Hormuz route tightens supply elsewhere and pushes rates up across long-haul trades, including those serving West African ports.
The renewed attacks also sharpen the stakes around Nigeria’s push for a stronger voice at the IMO Council table and its broader blue-economy diplomacy under Minister Adegboyega Oyetola. A sustained Gulf disruption is exactly the kind of systemic shock that tests whether Nigeria’s seat translates into influence over how global shipping risk, insurance and rerouting decisions are made, rather than Nigeria simply absorbing the downstream cost.
Locally, the episode is a reminder of the layered nature of “maritime security” as a policy word: the Deep Blue Project and Gulf of Guinea security architecture address piracy and armed robbery close to home, but Nigeria’s ports and shippers remain exposed to security failures thousands of kilometres away in the Gulf.
Waterways News will continue tracking how the Hormuz situation feeds into freight cost pressure at Nigerian ports and NIMASA’s public messaging on the issue.
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