Blue Economy
Nigeria to Revive National Shipping Line with AD Ports, DP World as Strategic Partners
NIGERIA TO REVIVE NATIONAL SHIPPING LINE WITH AD PORTS, DP WORLD AS STRATEGIC PARTNERS
By Okeoghene Onoriobe — Waterways News Correspondent Lagos, April 3, 2026
FG Moves to End Foreign Shipping Dominance, Unlock CVFF Disbursement
Nigeria is set to re-establish a national shipping line, with the Federal Government having already secured strategic partnerships with AD Ports Group and DP World to anchor the initiative, Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Adegboyega Oyetola has confirmed.
Oyetola disclosed the development during a stakeholders’ engagement and performance retreat held in Lagos, describing the project as a significant step toward reducing Nigeria’s chronic dependence on foreign carriers and retaining maritime revenue within the domestic economy.
Strategic Alliances Locked In
The minister said the Federal Government has concluded agreements with AD Ports Group — the Abu Dhabi-based port and logistics conglomerate — and DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators, as the cornerstone partners for the proposed national carrier. He did not disclose the ownership structure, equity split, or operational timeline, but indicated that material progress had been made toward actualising the project.
Nigeria currently has no national shipping line, having wound down the Nigerian National Shipping Line in the 1990s. The absence of a flag carrier has long forced Nigerian importers and exporters to rely entirely on foreign lines, with freight costs and surcharge decisions made outside the country’s regulatory reach.
CVFF Disbursement Linked to Broader Reforms
Oyetola also used the retreat to reaffirm government commitment to disbursing the long-delayed Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, tying it directly to the national carrier project as part of a coordinated push to strengthen indigenous shipowning capacity.
The CVFF, established under the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act of 2003, has accumulated for over two decades with minimal disbursement, drawing sustained criticism from the Nigerian indigenous shipowners’ lobby and operators in the cabotage trade.
Stakeholders at the retreat welcomed both commitments, describing them as overdue interventions capable of transforming the structural economics of Nigeria’s maritime sector.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigerian maritime operators, the announcement carries both promise and familiar caution.
The prospect of a national carrier backed by AD Ports Group and DP World is commercially credible — both operators have deep experience across African port markets. AD Ports is already active across West Africa, while DP World operates at Apapa and holds a long-term presence in the Nigerian port ecosystem. The involvement of established global names provides a degree of bankability that earlier national carrier proposals lacked.
However, the critical unanswered questions remain the operational model, the Nigerian equity stake, and the extent to which cargo preference legislation — which would typically underpin a flag carrier’s revenue base — will be enforced. Without statutory cargo reservation for the national line, the project risks being commercially exposed from day one.
The linkage to CVFF disbursement is equally significant for indigenous shipowners and operators in the coastal trade. The Fund’s long-delayed release has been a source of deep frustration for members of the Shipowners Association of Nigeria and participants in the cabotage regime. If the current reform momentum produces actual disbursements, it would represent the most consequential movement on the Fund since the Cabotage Act was enacted.
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NPA, and NIMASA will all have roles to play in how the national carrier project is structured — particularly around tariff frameworks, berth access, and the regulatory interface with foreign lines currently dominant on the Nigeria trade lane. Shippers and freight forwarders will be watching closely to see whether the carrier, when it eventually launches, translates into competitive freight rates or simply adds another player to an already complex pricing environment.
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