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Delays have been reported at port of Lagos, Nigeria over the New Year period, which are said to have prevented ships from discharging and taking on marine fuel as scheduled.

Over 65 vessels, including petroleum tankers, container ships and refrigerated ships, have reportedly been forced to queue to discharge their consignments at Lagos following an large influx of vessels over the past week.

According to statistics prepared on a weekly basis by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the ships are expected to bring in consignments ranging from general cargo, vehicles, bulk cargo and various petroleum products.

Over half of the ships(33), are said to be waiting to discharge low pour fuel oil, base oil, aviation fuel, diesel and kerosene.

The congestion at Lagos looks set to continue during the month of January as more than 83 vessels are scheduled to arrive over the next two weeks. Of the 83 ships, 15 will be carrying old and new vehicles, 15 will be bringing in consumer goods and cars, whilst 39 vessels are expected to discharge petrol, diesel, aviation oil, kerosene and base oil.

Commenting on the situation, Ibrahim Bio, minister of transportation, is reported to have said that the rate of congestion at Lagos was alarming, warning that Nigeria could lose a percentage of its cargoes to neighbouring countries if something was not done urgently.

Bio urged the stakeholders to work together to ensure that the port was decongested over the next two weeks in order to avoid surcharges on Nigerian-bound cargoes being imposed by the international shipping community.

Meanwhile, a number of vessel operators are said to be in favour of more jetties being developed at the oil terminals in order to provide a more long-term solution to the congestion issue.

Bio stressed that although the terminal operators have provided some additional infrastructure at Nigerian ports, more was still required to achieve the desired results.

“We will not tolerate a situation where terminal operators deliberately delay goods at the ports by not providing enough equipment”, Bio said.