In the last few years, our fears have been the same as each year rolled to the end. From the immediate years, the troubles of 2018 are not significantly different from those of 2017, 2019 and 2020.
The issues that dominated the industry remain constant, perhaps in some cases becoming more daunting.
We all had the premonition that 2020 could be tough, especially because of the COVID 19 pandemic that shook the world at the beginning of that year, but no one thought it would be as tough as it turned out to be.
It was that fear and challenge of the looming uncertainties that ushered us into 2021.
As Nigeria’s leading maritime media organisation, we are conscious of the issues that dominated the nation’s maritime landscape, even in the years before this, and we dare say that they remained with us even as we look forward to 2022.
Even though no one saw it approaching, COVID gave a lot of hurting punches to maritime industry stakeholders in 2020. Perhaps a little less punchy in 2021.
Ask ship owners, terminal operators, freight forwarders, even shipping lines which have had to bear the brunch of escalating piracy.
Of course, the highest common denominator in our collective anguish is the approaches to virtually all the nation’s seaports; from Lagos to Onne, to Warri and others, the story is the same; that of pains.
Arguably, Lagos ports enjoyed a little breather this year; the roads were not as chaotic as they were in the previous years.
For the importers, the agony of 2021 was not about the strength of the Naira vis a vis other currencies, especially, the Dollar, Euro and Pound Sterling, it was how to get their cargoes out of the ports to their warehouses. They still face the overbearing presence of Customs formations, either on the roads leading out of the ports to, or on major highways.
For the customs licensed agents, it was the usually cumbersome and high cost of cargo clearance, for the indigenous ship owners it was the same old story of lack of patronage and dominance of foreign ship owners. For the owners/drivers of articulated vehicles that are used for dry and wet cargo haulage, 2021 was not as friendly.
Read Also: What is your assessment of the maritime industry for the Year 2021?
Perhaps, the greatest blow in 2021 is the loss of elections into the IMO Council. Of course, this is not to diminish Nigeria’s victory at MOWCA, where she got Dr Paul Adalikwu elected as the body’s Secretary General.
This is not the avenue to do agency-by-agency appraisal. If we continue to pick on agencies and sub-sectors, there will be no space to touch on all. Suffice it to stress here that, some did well, while others didn’t do as well.
As we sign-off for 2021, we, at First Mediacon Network Limited (owners of Shipping Position Daily newspaper, Shipping Position Live on Star FM Shipping Position Online, and Shipping Position You Tube/Facebook Weekly Channel), hereby acknowledge that 2021 is indeed a remarkable year.
We also seize this opportunity to thank our advertisers and all those who diligently buy our newspaper and those who listen to us on Radio, including those who regularly visit our website. We also thank those who diligently support us, but crave to remain in the background.
May you all have Merry Christmas celebrations and a prosperous 2022. Amen!
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