Dangote Industries has finalised plans to acquire its own fleet of vessels to move products from Nigeria into West and Central African markets, as limited shipping capacity and high road transport costs continue to slow its regional expansion.
Sada Ladan-Baki, Head of International Trade and Export at Dangote Cement, disclosed this on Tuesday at a seminar on non-oil exports, saying the conglomerate had struggled to secure adequate vessels for its cross-border trade.
She cited a case where Dangote could not find a ship to move a 1,000-metric-tonne consignment to Ghana, despite the short maritime distance between the two countries.
“We are moving forward towards getting our own ships in order to do this business,” Ladan-Baki said.
She added that road transport was not a reliable alternative either, since goods bound for Ghana must pass through Benin and Togo, where they are subject to taxes and levies that push up costs and weaken the competitiveness of Nigerian exports.
The planned fleet reflects how central maritime trade has become to Dangote’s operations. The group’s $20 billion Lagos refinery has already reshaped Nigeria’s seaborne trade, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration reporting this week that the country’s petroleum-product exports by sea have grown sevenfold since 2023, largely on the back of the refinery’s output. The facility is expected to handle roughly 600 vessels a year, covering both crude imports and refined product shipments.
Reacting to the plan, President of the Indigenous Shipping Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Otunba Shola Adewumi, said Dangote’s reliance on foreign-flagged vessels stemmed from Nigeria’s shortage of ships with the required capacity.
He welcomed the move but warned that owning vessels was only half the challenge. “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,” Adewumi said, adding that he hoped the vessels would fly the Nigerian flag to boost the national fleet and strengthen the country’s standing in international shipping.
He also noted that the planned acquisition would create jobs for Nigerian seafarers and other maritime professionals.
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