Blue Economy
High Freight Charges: Importers Save Up to N4m Per Box Routing Cargo Through Cotonou
High Freight Charges: Importers Save Up to N4m Per Box Routing Cargo Through Cotonou
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
As freight surcharges bite, IMAN raises alarm over accelerating diversion of Nigerian trade traffic to Benin Republic
Nigerian importers are routing consignments away from Apapa and other Lagos ports to the Port of Cotonou in the Republic of Benin, with cost differentials of between N3 million and N4 million per container now driving what stakeholders warn is a structural shift in regional cargo flows.
The Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN), South West Zone, raised the alarm over the weekend, accusing shipping lines of imposing successive freight rate increases that have rendered cargo clearance through Apapa prohibitively expensive relative to neighbouring port corridors. Acting Chairman of the association, Chief Joseph Ajoku, confirmed the trend, stating that the cost disparity had become too significant for importers to ignore.
“Most times, the cost of clearing in Apapa is so high that we decide to move our cargo to Cotonou. When we compare, we see a difference of about N3 million to N4 million on a single container,” he said.
Ajoku noted that despite repeated engagement with shipping lines, no concession had been reached. Operators, he said, acknowledge stakeholder concerns in meetings but proceed regardless to announce new increments.
“We have attended several meetings. They explain their challenges, but at the end, they still go ahead to announce the increment,” he told newsmen.
The IMAN chairman also raised transparency concerns, alleging that neither shipping companies nor freight forwarders had provided cost templates to justify the price hikes. Importers, he stressed, absorb the cumulative burden of charges imposed across the logistics chain. “All the burden is on the importers. We are the ones at the receiving end,” he said.
Ajoku warned that the sustained diversion of cargo, if left unaddressed, would translate to measurable revenue losses for Nigeria and a further erosion of port competitiveness — a particularly sensitive concern at a time when Lekki Deep Sea Port is still in the early stages of building its cargo base.
Nigeria Watch
The IMAN disclosure crystallises a challenge that Nigerian port authorities and regulators have grappled with for years but have yet to resolve decisively: the cost of doing business through Lagos ports remains structurally higher than competing West African corridors, and freight rate volatility — driven partly by global factors including the Red Sea disruptions and demand shifts on the Asia–West Africa trade lane — is now amplifying that gap in ways that directly influence importer behaviour.
For the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), whose mandate includes protecting cargo interests and moderating shipping line charges, this is a direct stress test of its regulatory effectiveness. The Council has in recent months taken steps to scrutinise surcharge applications, but the persistence of diversion trends suggests enforcement gaps remain.
The NPA and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy will be equally concerned. Every container that transits through Cotonou rather than Apapa or Tin Can Island represents lost terminal revenue, reduced Customs receipts, and diminished throughput statistics — metrics that bear directly on the government’s port reform and concession renewal narrative.
With the Nigeria National Single Window now live and port digitization ongoing, the process argument for Nigerian ports is strengthening. But process improvements mean little if the cost arithmetic continues to favour Cotonou. Addressing the freight rate and port charges question — through stronger NSC intervention, transparent surcharge templates, and dialogue that produces outcomes rather than deferrals — must now be treated as a matter of urgent commercial policy.
Waterways News | Maritime & Blue Economy Reports