Business
Dangote Refinery Raises Petrol Price Again as Global Shipping Costs Bite
Dangote Refinery Raises Petrol Price Again as Global Shipping Costs, Crude Surge Bite
By Mena Ikuku, Waterways News Correspondent
Nigeria’s Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced another upward revision of its Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) pump-gate price, blaming escalating global geopolitical tensions and surging crude oil costs for the adjustment — a move analysts warn will ripple through freight, logistics, and consumer prices nationwide.
In a notice dispatched to petroleum marketers late Friday, the Lekki-based refinery said its ex-depot (gantry) price would climb from ₦1,175 to ₦1,245 per litre, while the coastal price rises from ₦1,512,648 to ₦1,606,518 per metric tonne. The new pricing took effect from midnight, March 21, 2026.
Market Forces Beyond Refinery’s Control
The refinery attributed the revision squarely to global market dynamics, noting that fluctuations in crude oil prices and elevated shipping and freight costs lie outside its operational control. The explanation mirrors concerns raised by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and regional shipping bodies, which have repeatedly flagged how tensions in key oil-producing and maritime corridors — particularly the Middle East — are inflating both crude benchmarks and vessel operating costs.
Freight rate volatility on key trade lanes serving West Africa has already been a concern for Nigerian importers and logistics operators in recent months, and the latest Dangote adjustment underscores how directly international maritime market conditions translate into domestic energy pricing.
Marketers Given Short Grace Window
Marketers with pre-existing supply arrangements backed by valid bank guarantees will be permitted to lift products at the previous rates, provided their guarantees cover the applicable price differential. However, the refinery stipulated that the cost difference will be debited to marketers’ trading accounts, with evidence of payment required by March 23 — leaving the industry a narrow two-day adjustment window.
Pump Price Hike Expected Across the Country
Industry analysts widely expect the increase to cascade into higher retail pump prices, as petroleum marketers are likely to transfer the additional cost burden to end-consumers. Transporters, haulage operators, and logistics firms — key players in Nigeria’s supply chain — are expected to feel the pressure acutely, with knock-on effects anticipated for the movement of goods and commodities across the country.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigeria’s maritime and logistics sector, the Dangote refinery pricing signal carries significance beyond the filling station. The refinery was positioned as a structural solution to Nigeria’s chronic fuel supply volatility and dependence on imported PMS — but the latest hike illustrates that even domestic refining capacity cannot fully insulate the market from the global maritime freight environment.
Rising crude prices and shipping cost inflation — driven by tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea trade disruptions — continue to set the floor for energy costs in Nigeria. Port operators, inland waterways transporters, and vessel operators who rely on PMS and marine gas oil (MGO) should factor this pricing trajectory into operational planning. With freight costs globally under upward pressure, further revisions from the Dangote refinery in the near term cannot be ruled out.
Blue Economy
LAGFERRY Turns Lagos Waterways Into a Cinema, Screens Michael Jackson Biopic Aboard Adimu Orisha Barge
LAGFERRY Turns Lagos Waterways Into a Cinema, Screens Michael Jackson Biopic Aboard Adimu Orisha Barge
Agency partners Wave Media for ‘Cinema and Cruise’ event, signalling new frontier for waterway-based leisure and tourism in Lagos
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News Correspondent
The Lagos State Ferry Services (LAGFERRY) has taken a bold step in repositioning the Lagos waterways as a destination for entertainment and tourism, hosting an exclusive movie screening event aboard its celebrated Adimu Orisha Barge on the creeks and coastal waters of Lagos State.
The event, tagged Cinema and Cruise and organised in collaboration with Wave Media, centred on the screening of Michael — the newly released biographical film chronicling the life, artistry, and legacy of the late American pop icon, Michael Jackson. The gathering drew a cross-section of Lagosians including movie enthusiasts, entertainment professionals, waterway passengers, and stakeholders from across the leisure and hospitality sectors.
Waterways as More Than a Corridor
Held against the backdrop of a glittering Lagos nightscape, the Cinema and Cruise event was designed to challenge and broaden the public’s perception of water transportation — positioning the Lagos waterways not merely as a commuter corridor, but as a viable venue for social, cultural, and recreational experiences.
Speaking at the event, LAGFERRY Managing Director, Hon. Ladi Balogun, said the screening aboard the Adimu Orisha Barge encapsulates the agency’s broader vision of making water transport an attractive and multidimensional proposition for Lagos residents and visitors alike.
“The movie viewing experience aboard the Adimu Orisha Barge reflects our agency’s vision of redefining commuting and leisure through safe, enjoyable, and customer-focused water transportation services,” Balogun stated. “There is absolutely no social event you can do on land that you cannot do on the waterways.”
The Managing Director also reaffirmed the Lagos State Government’s commitment to safety on the waterways, alongside ongoing efforts to expand and modernise the state’s water transportation infrastructure through innovation and sustainability.
There is absolutely no social event you can do on land that you cannot do on the waterways.”
Guests were treated to an evening of music, open-air networking, and sweeping panoramic views of the Lagos waterfront — a setting that reinforced the waterways’ growing status as an entertainment destination in its own right.
A Milestone in Waterway Diversification
The successful execution of the Cinema and Cruise event marks a notable milestone in LAGFERRY’s evolving strategy to diversify the use cases of Lagos waterways beyond mass transit. By introducing leisure and cultural programming aboard its vessels, the agency is quietly building the case for the waterways as a pillar of Lagos’s broader blue economy and urban tourism offering.
Nigeria Watch
What LAGFERRY’s ‘Cinema and Cruise’ Signals for the Blue Economy
For stakeholders in Nigeria’s blue economy — from terminal operators and ferry concessionaires to hospitality investors and urban planners — the LAGFERRY Cinema and Cruise event is more than a novelty. It is a policy signal worth tracking.
Lagos State has for years grappled with the challenge of driving modal shift from road to water transport. Infrastructure investment alone — new jetties, expanded ferry routes, modern vessels — has not been sufficient to overcome the cultural inertia that keeps commuters on congested roads. What is needed alongside hard infrastructure is a shift in perception: Lagosians must begin to see the waterways as desirable, not merely functional.
LAGFERRY’s foray into water-based entertainment is a calculated attempt to catalyse that shift. By anchoring a branded leisure experience to a waterway vessel, the agency is effectively marketing the waterway itself — not just the ferry ticket.
The commercial logic is sound: increased footfall on the waterways, driven by lifestyle events, directly supports the viability of regular ferry services and the concession ecosystem around them.
For investors in Lagos’s waterfront economy — hospitality developers, event companies, and water transport operators — the Cinema and Cruise model suggests an emerging market segment. River cruise dining, floating concerts, corporate hospitality events on barges, and waterway-based film or cultural festivals are all established revenue streams in waterfront cities globally. Lagos, with its extensive lagoon system and a young, experience-driven consumer base, is well-positioned to develop similar offerings.
The key enablers will be regulatory clarity from the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) on commercial event licensing for vessels, continued investment in jetty infrastructure at event-friendly locations, and safety oversight frameworks that can accommodate non-standard waterway activities. If LAGFERRY’s partnership model with Wave Media can be replicated and scaled, Cinema and Cruise may prove to be the proof of concept that unlocks private investment in Lagos waterway-based tourism — a segment the blue economy urgently needs.
Dangote Targets Olokola for Africa’s Biggest, Deepest Seaport; Eyes Tanzania Port Deal
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News Correspondent, Lagos
Billionaire industrialist calls on African governments to open port sector to private capital as operational delays stifle trade
Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that the proposed Olokola Port in Ogun State will be developed into the largest and deepest seaport on the African continent, with the project expected to break ground this year pending Federal Government approval.
Dangote made the disclosure on Monday on the sidelines of the Board of Directors meeting of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) held in Lagos, where he also called for a fundamental shift in how African governments approach port infrastructure development — urging them to cede greater ownership and operational responsibility to private investors.
Private Sector as the Engine of Port Growth
The billionaire industrialist argued forcefully that port development across Africa has been held back by excessive reliance on government-led investment, insisting that private capital — not public funds — must now drive the sector’s transformation.
It is not really the job of governments to build and run ports alone,” he told journalists. “The private sector should create those investments, invest heavily, while governments focus on regulation and revenue collection.”
Dangote contended that persistent operational inefficiencies at ports across the continent — including prolonged vessel waiting times and chronic infrastructure gaps — were creating serious hardships for manufacturers and investors. He said these bottlenecks underscored the urgency of attracting private participation into maritime infrastructure.
“A lot of ports in Africa still face serious operational delays. Some vessels wait for days, and this is making business very difficult. One of the key recommendations I have made is that governments should encourage more private sector investment in port infrastructure,” he stated.
Olokola: A Continental Landmark in the Making
At the heart of Dangote’s maritime ambitions is the Olokola Port project, which he described as a transformational facility set to redefine cargo throughput, logistics efficiency and vessel handling capacity across West Africa and the continent at large.
“We announced that we are building the Olokola Port. We are going to build the largest and deepest seaport in Africa, and that will happen in Olokola,” Dangote affirmed.
He said the Dangote Group had finalised plans for the project and was awaiting regulatory clearance from the Federal Government before mobilising for construction. “We are hoping to start this year, if we get approval. As soon as we receive approval from the government, we will move ahead with the project,” he said.
Olokola, straddling the Ogun–Ondo boundary in southwestern Nigeria, has long been eyed as a deep-water port location given its natural harbour depth and proximity to the Atlantic shipping lane. A Dangote-backed facility at that site would significantly alter Nigeria’s port capacity map, potentially rivalling established West African deep-water competitors such as Lomé, Abidjan and Tema.
Tanzania Port Deal Also on the Table
Beyond Nigeria, Dangote confirmed that the group is simultaneously advancing a major port project in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, signalling the conglomerate’s intent to establish a continent-wide maritime infrastructure footprint.
He disclosed that talks with Tanzanian authorities were progressing well following a recent visit to the East African nation. “We are also working on another port in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. I just came back from there yesterday, and we are engaging with them. Once approvals come through, we will proceed,” he said.
Bagamoyo, located north of Dar es Salaam, has previously been identified as a strategic gateway for East African trade, with Chinese-backed infrastructure proposals having stalled in recent years. A Dangote entry into that market would mark a significant pivot toward Nigerian private capital competing at the continental level.
Port Infrastructure Now a Strategic Pillar for Dangote Group
Dangote indicated that port infrastructure would henceforth rank alongside cement, fertiliser, petrochemicals and logistics as a core pillar of the group’s continental growth strategy.
“Port infrastructure is now one of the key sectors for the Dangote Group, and we are going to pursue it aggressively,” he affirmed.
The PMAWCA Board of Directors meeting, which brought together port authority chiefs and maritime officials from West and Central Africa, provided the forum for Dangote’s remarks — lending regional weight to his advocacy for private-sector-led port reform at a moment when Nigeria’s own port concession framework faces fresh scrutiny.
Nigeria Watch: Analysis for terminal operators, freight forwarders, shipowners and regulatory stakeholders
Dangote’s Olokola announcement arrives at a politically charged moment for Nigeria’s port development landscape. The Federal Government’s port concession renewal process — covering key facilities at Apapa, Tin Can Island and other NPA-managed terminals — remains mired in uncertainty, with several existing concessionaires operating on expired or informally extended agreements while fresh terms are yet to be concluded.
Against that backdrop, the prospect of a privately-financed greenfield deep-water port at Olokola introduces a new competitive variable that terminal operators, cargo owners and shipping lines will be watching closely. If the facility delivers on Dangote’s ambition of being Africa’s largest and deepest, it would materially shift the calculus for vessel calls currently routed through Lekki Deep Sea Port — itself still ramping up — and could attract ultra-large container vessels currently bypassing Nigeria for more accommodating regional ports.
For freight forwarders and importers, the key question is timing. Dangote’s conditional language — “if we get approval” — is a familiar refrain in Nigerian port project announcements, and the history of Olokola itself is one of protracted delays dating back to earlier development proposals. Whether the Federal Government’s regulatory machinery can process approvals swiftly enough to keep the conglomerate’s 2026 groundbreaking target alive remains an open question.
What is clear is that the Dangote Group’s formal entry into port infrastructure — backed by the group’s demonstrated capacity to execute at scale in the Lekki refinery complex — gives this announcement considerably more credibility than previous Olokola proposals. Stakeholders across the value chain would do well to monitor NPA and Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy signals on approvals in the weeks ahead.
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.
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