The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has signed a mandate letter and term sheet with US-based Citibank for a US$700 million loan to rehabilitate the Lagos and Tin Can Island ports. The ports are located in the Apapa area of Lagos state in southwestern Nigeria.

The loan will be funded by UK Export Finance (UKEF) and will be used to rehabilitate deteriorating quay walls and deepen the draught to 16.5 metres, which will allow the ports to accommodate larger vessels.

The term sheet will now be sent to the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office for review and final approval.

Earlier today, the Managing Director, @MohdBelloKoko, on behalf of the Executive Management Team signed the Mandate Letter to secure a $700m Citibank loan to be funded by the UK Export Finance, UKEF. The loan is to fully rehabilitate the Apapa and TinCan Island Port to… pic.twitter.com/BF3IYdyYCn

— Nigerian Ports (@nigerianports) April 17, 2024

According to NPA managing director Mohammed Bello Koko, the authority will soon conclude discussions with multilateral funding agencies for the rehabilitation of other ports in the country, including Calabar port in Cross River state, the Rivers facility in Port Harcourt, Onne port in Rivers state, and the Warri port in Delta state.

The loan is part of NPA’s strategy to source low-cost funding to modernise Nigeria’s existing ports to accommodate modern cargo-handling equipment, reduce vessel turnaround time, improve the berth occupancy factor and increase competitiveness.

According to the authority, some of the ports were built a century ago and have not been rebuilt since then and terminal operators are unable to deploy modern cargo-handling equipment such as ship-to-shore cranes due to decaying quay walls, which often results in high turnaround times for vessels.

In November 2023, the authority announced the federal government would invest US$1.1 billion in the port rehabilitation plan.

The proposed work includes the reconstruction of the 2.6km quay wall and pavement at Tin Can Island port and the reconstruction of the 2km quay wall to replace the old gravity wall at berths 4-14 of Lagos port. At Warri port, the collapsed 8.6km Escravos breakwater is due to be rehabilitated along with the 80-metre sheet pile wall structure at Terminal C and the 280-metre quay structure at Terminal A. Other plans include reconstructing the 200-metre quay wall at the Federal Lighter Terminal 2 of Onne port, and rehabilitating the Calabar Dockyard and the Mciver and Millero jetties as part of the Calabar Port jetty reconstruction project.

In February, Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Adegboyega Oyetola met with Keith Svendsen, global CEO of the Netherlands' APM Terminals, who expressed readiness to invest US$500 million in upgrading Lagos port. APM Terminals is the concessionaire of the Apapa Container Terminal and has invested US$438 million in the facility since 2006.

Yesterday marked a pivotal moment as we welcomed Mr. Keith Svendsen, the Global CEO of APM Terminals, who conveyed their profound interest in investing half a billion dollars in the transformation of Apapa Port in Lagos.During our discussions, I underscored the unwavering… pic.twitter.com/UbHt03TPrd