Dangote Plans To Buy Shipping Fleet To Boost Regional Exports

Dangote Industries is planning to acquire its own ships to make it easier and cheaper to move its products from Nigeria to other African markets.

The company says limited access to vessels and the high cost of transporting goods by road have made it difficult to expand its business across West and Central Africa.

Sada Ladan-Baki, Head of International Trade and Export at Dangote Cement, explained that the decision followed the challenges the company has faced in securing enough shipping space for its products.

She spoke on Tuesday at a seminar focused on non-oil exports, where she said the company had struggled to move goods from Nigeria to neighbouring countries.

Ladan-Baki recalled that Dangote once struggled to find a vessel capable of transporting a 1,000-metric-tonne shipment from Nigeria to Ghana, despite the two countries being relatively close to each other.

“We are moving forward towards getting our own ships in order to do this business,” she said.

Ladan-Baki said road transport has created difficulties for the company to move it’s products.

According to her, Goods being moved to Ghana by road have to pass through countries such as Benin and Togo, where exporters face taxes, levies and other charges.

She noted that these additional costs increase the price of Nigerian goods and make them less competitive in other African markets.

Ladan-Baki stressed that owning ships would give Dangote greater control over the movement of its products and could reduce some of the costs linked to regional transportation.

The plan comes as maritime transportation becomes increasingly important to Dangote’s operations.

The company’s $20 billion refinery in Lagos has significantly increased Nigeria’s seaborne petroleum trade.

The US Energy Information Administration recently reported that Nigeria’s exports of petroleum products by sea have increased sevenfold since 2023, with the growth largely linked to production from the Dangote refinery.

The refinery is also expected to handle around 600 vessels each year.

These would include ships transporting crude oil to the refinery and vessels carrying refined products to Nigerian and international markets.

However, the proposed acquisition has drawn a warning from the Indigenous Shipping Association of Nigeria.

Otunba Shola Adewumi, president of the association, said Dangote had traditionally depended on foreign-flagged ships to move crude oil and refined petroleum products because Nigeria does not have enough vessels with the capacity required.

Adewumi said buying ships was only the first step, as keeping them in good condition and managing their operations could be more difficult and expensive.

He said, “Dangote is a Nigerian and a businessman, and he is free to do whatever he wants. It is very easy to buy a ship, but maintaining the ship is a different ball game.

“We also hope that Dangote will put those vessels under the Nigerian flag so as to add more tonnage to the national fleet and increase Nigeria’s influence in the international shipping community.”

Adewumi added that the move could create more jobs for Nigerian seafarers and other workers involved in shipping, logistics and international trade.

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