Dangote Industries is planning to acquire its own vessels to facilitate the transportation of its products from Nigeria to markets across West and Central Africa.
The move is aimed at addressing limited shipping capacity and the rising cost of road transportation, which have continued to hamper the conglomerate’s regional expansion.
Head of International Trade and Export at Dangote Cement, Sada Ladan-Baki, disclosed this on Tuesday at a seminar on non-oil exports.
She said the company had faced significant difficulties securing adequate shipping capacity for its regional exports.
According to her, Dangote once struggled to secure a vessel to transport a 1,000-metric-tonne consignment to Ghana, despite the relatively short distance between Nigeria and Ghana.
“We are moving forward towards getting our own ships in order to do this business,” Ladan-Baki said.
She explained that road transportation was also problematic because products transported to Ghana have to pass through neighbouring countries such as Benin and Togo, where additional taxes and charges are imposed.
The situation, she said, increases transportation costs and makes Nigerian products less competitive in regional markets.
The planned acquisition is also coming at a time when Dangote’s businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on maritime transportation.
The $20 billion Dangote Refinery in Lagos has significantly increased Nigeria’s seaborne petroleum-product trade, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration reporting that Nigeria’s petroleum-product exports by sea have grown seven-fold since 2023, largely due to output from the refinery.
The refinery is also expected to handle about 600 vessels annually, including ships transporting crude oil and those carrying refined products to domestic and international markets.
Reacting to the plan, President of the Indigenous Shipping Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Otunba Shola Adewumi, said Dangote had historically relied on foreign-flagged vessels because Nigeria lacked sufficient vessels of the required capacity.
Adewumi, however, cautioned that purchasing vessels was only the beginning, stressing that maintaining and managing them could be more challenging.
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.”
He expressed hope that the vessels would be registered under the Nigerian flag.
“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,” he said.
Adewumi added that the acquisition could create employment opportunities for Nigerian seafarers and other professionals in the maritime and international trade sectors.
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