The Chairman of Maritime Shipping and Ocean International Resources Limited (MSOIR), Greg Ogbeifun, has announced the establishment of a privately driven national carrier, modelled after the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line, to stop capital flight in freight.

Ogbeifun, while disclosing this to maritime journalists yesterday, said the company had been working for over 13 months to establish the global trading shipping line, which is structured to be owned and operated by the private sector with government support.

Ogbeifun lamented that despite Nigeria’s population of about 230 million and heavy importation, no vessel calling at the country’s ports is owned by a Nigerian company, saying this has led to huge capital flight through freight payments to foreign shipping lines.

Illustrating the scale of capital flight, Ogbeifun said it cost him about $8,000 to ship a vehicle in a 40-foot container from the United States, even as Lagos ports handle an estimated 250 to 300 containers daily.

Ogbeifun estimated that each of the 300 containers at the Lagos port, paying at $6,000 per container, would amount to $1.8 million in freight revenue leaving the country daily.

He also announced a $365 million financing approval by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for the expansion of Nigeria’s first privately-owned ship repair yard, from 44-metre vessel capacity to 120-metre repairs and rebuilds.

Ogbeifun said the project would also replace a 500-tonne floating dock with a 10,000-tonne ship lift and transfer facility, now set for construction.

The expanded yard, he said, was designed to repair up to 10 ships simultaneously of varying sizes and specifications.
Ogbeifun said he has engaged Lloyd’s of London for a market study and has spent over $210,000 developing the project.

Nigeria could have at least 10 shipping lines within one year and achieve 50 per cent Nigerian ownership of ships operating in the country within five years, he projected.

On environmental compliance, Ogbeifun said any new ship builds would meet global standards in carbon reduction, noting that the redesigned shipyard will be powered entirely on renewable energy, with a 5.3-megawatt solar power system expected to exceed the yard’s estimated peak consumption of 3.8 megawatts, allowing excess power to be fed into the grid.

According to him, emissions control and carbon monitoring are becoming decisive factors, with ships increasingly classified into A, B and C categories.

Ogbeifun warned that as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) tightens environmental rules, non-compliant ships and ports risk being excluded from major trade routes, warning that ships would start avoiding Nigerian ports if nothing is done in green investment.