In a landmark achievement that underscores Nigeria’s readiness to harness the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on July 2, 2025, successfully berthed the first wholly Nigerian-owned container vessel, MV Ocean Dragon.
The berthing, which occurred at 05:05 hours, was facilitated by the deployment of NPA’s state-of-the-art marine crafts. The vessel, with International Maritime Organization (IMO) number 9508770, is owned by Clarion Shipping West Africa Limited and has a capacity of 349 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs).
The arrival of MV Ocean Dragon is expected to significantly advance Nigeria’s push to develop short-sea shipping, promoting more cost-effective and time-saving maritime trade routes within the country and across the West African sub-region. The initiative also aligns with the NPA’s broader goal of strengthening multimodal transport systems and reducing overreliance on Nigeria’s congested road network.
The vessel is scheduled to operate regional services, connecting ports in Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Egypt, South Africa, and other African countries. Already, expressions of interest for partnerships and trade have begun to emerge across these regions.
Speaking on the milestone, NPA Managing Director, Abubakar Dantsoho, described the development as a significant step in the Authority’s efforts to deepen operational efficiency and unlock the potentials of Nigeria’s marine and blue economy.
“This achievement reflects our unwavering commitment to enhancing Nigeria’s competitiveness in the regional maritime space, in line with the vision of the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola. His focused leadership recently secured the Federal Executive Council’s approval of the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy,” Dantsoho said.
Also commenting, the Vice President of Clarion Shipping West Africa Limited, Bernadine Eloka, said the acquisition of the vessel presents a strategic solution to the high-risk, road-dependent cargo movement in Nigeria.
“With MV Ocean Dragon, we now have a viable alternative to transporting containers by road. Instead of moving containers from Lekki to Onitsha, Port Harcourt, or Calabar by truck, the vessel can transport up to 349 containers by sea and deliver them within two days port-to-port,” Eloka explained.
She emphasized that the vessel is part of the Clarion Group’s broader strategy to offer efficient intra-African shipping services, particularly under the AfCFTA framework. Eloka added that the enforcement of Nigeria’s cabotage laws would encourage more indigenous investment, create jobs, and reduce Nigeria’s dependence on foreign-owned shipping lines.
Similarly, Mustafa Mohammed, Managing Director of Clarion Suncity Terminal Logistics Limited, revealed that the company is positioning itself to compete with global shipping giants such as Maersk Line and MSC by investing in assets that directly support Nigerian exporters and importers, particularly those in the country’s landlocked regions.
He disclosed that the company has already secured bookings for 1,300 export containers and is working to help farmers and manufacturers avoid losses due to delays and container shortages.
This milestone comes as the NPA intensifies its focus on indigenous capacity development. The Managing Director, Dantsoho, also recently announced a fresh $60 million investment targeted at establishing eco-friendly port infrastructure and advancing the Authority’s drive for increased Nigerian content in the maritime industry.
