Dangote Refinery has disclosed that it will not rely solely on road haulage for the local distribution of its refined petroleum products, but will explore water transportation, targeting Nigeria’s major sea ports.
This will involve utilising the facilities of the country’s major seaports of Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar.
In a media interview on Sunday, Devakumar Edwin, Vice President (Oil & Gas) at Dangote Industries Limited, revealed that the Refinery plans to transport 75% of its local petroleum product supply via sea routes.
According to him, this action will be taken while targeting key locations like Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar, despite having the capacity to load 83% of its products by road, adding that the measure aimed at reducing the higher costs associated with road distribution.
He noted that as the largest single-train refinery globally, Dangote Refinery offers both sea and road export options but is ramping up efforts to evacuate nearly all production by sea.
He emphasises that products for Calabar, Port Harcourt, Warri, Apapa and Atlas Cove (in Lagos), will primarily move by sea, with road transport reserved for urgent needs, easing pressure on road infrastructure and cutting transhipment costs.
“We have both exporting facilities by sea and by road. 75% of the production can be evacuated through sea. Now we are ramping up to make it even 100%.
“Anything going to Calabar, Port Harcourt, Warri, Apapa, Atlas can all be taken through the sea. So only what is imminently required by road can be taken.
“But I also have the facility to load 83% of my production also through the road. We have just built-in flexibility but we can avoid all traffic congestion on the road by evacuating through sea and it will also bring down the cost of transhipment”, Edwin explained.
Edwin further noted that most products destined for central Nigeria can be shipped from Port Harcourt and Warri, while those for the East and Northeast can be moved from Calabar. This shift to sea transport, he noted, will significantly reduce costs and ultimately lower prices for consumers.
There are concerns that Dangote Refinery, with the capacity to load 40 tankers of PMS simultaneously in 40 minutes and manage up to 2,900 trucks daily, poses a significant risk of traffic congestion along the Lekki-Epe corridor, prompting a shift to sea transportation.
The Lagos State Government has announced that the electronic call-up (e-call-up) system for the Lekki-Epe corridor will commence on September 23, 2024, following the postponement of its initial rollout, which was scheduled for August 1, 2024.
According to the Lagos State Government, the implementation of the e-call-up system to manage truck movements is aimed at preventing severe congestion caused by articulated trucks and improving the efficiency of logistics operations within the Lekki-Epe Free Trade Zone corridor.
The e-call-up system is a digital platform designed to regulate the entry and exit of trucks in the Lekki-Epe area by scheduling and coordinating their movements. It is expected to help prevent the chaotic traffic situations often caused by the indiscriminate parking and movement of trucks within the corridor.
Trucks entering the Lekki Free Trade Zone will first be directed to designated operational parks, where they will wait until they are called to proceed to the Lekki Free Trade Zone, port, or terminal when road conditions are convenient. These parks have a combined capacity to hold over 1,200 trucks, keeping them off the roads when not needed.
Sam Diala, THEWILL
