Nigeria To Launch New Shipping Line

This is to help lighten the challenges of foreign exchange and other difficulties faced by Nigerian investors when they patronize foreign vessels.

Rotimi disclosed this in Abuja during the swearing-in of the governing boards of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

Amaechi stated that the nation’s cabotage law specifically made provision for the establishment of indigenous ownership of vessels as a means of protecting citizens and the economy from undue incursion by foreign players.

According to the minister, a lot of work has gone into setting up a major National Shipping line that will give opportunity to Nigerian investors to buy into the shipping business, thereby creating jobs and increasing revenue drive, whereby when functional, would help in the light of current economic challenges.

Recall on 23rd September, Rotimi ordered (NIMASA) to commence full implementation of Nigeria cabotage law, which he said is part of their core mandate.

The Coastal and inland shipping ACT otherwise known as the Cabotage ACT was enacted in 2003 in order to restrict the use of foreign vessels in domestic coastal trade to promote the development of indigenous tonnage and to establish a cabotage vessel-financing fund and for related matters.