Why The Cost Of Freight To Nigeria Is Shooting Through The Roof, As Shippers Now Boycott Nigeria
The Oasis Reporters
March 15, 2021
By Emmanuel Ogebe
Consider this piece of information that the cost of freight for shipments from Europe and Asia into Lagos has gone up from less than $3,000 for a 40 foot container to up to $13,000 early March because it is said that there are no containers in these places to ship goods to Lagos.
In short, the shipping companies in Antwerp, Istanbul, Guangzhou and Beijing have no containers left in their countries to ship goods to Apapa and Tin Can because the containers sent in the last ten years are not returned. Incredibly, it is said that this is informed by the fact that the shipping companies find it less stressful and expensive to abandon their containers in Lagos rather than wait for the containers to be returned to them and shipped out empty (since Nigeria is not exporting anything anyway).
Yes! It is cheaper for them to abandon their containers in Lagos than to wait for one month for a container to make the journey from Apapa Port to Oshodi and back. Therefore they just pass on the cost overruns to the hapless Nigerians that can’t organise themselves, their ports or their roads!
The double edged sword works against us in two ways: Lagos ports and all of Lagos are (is) awash with empty containers and more terribly, imported goods and inputs for production of any kind are going up in astronomical proportions.
So, next time you see trailers blocking the roads and police and others collecting money from them, don’t pretend it does not concern you. Because, It sure does! Pray, who will save us from our avoidable situation ?
This is very much like the fable of giving a monkey a cup of water to drink. That is really not the problem because all beings need water. But what becomes of the cup when the monkey decides to play with the cup ?
Emmanuel Ogebe is a US based attorney at law.
