Dangote Industries Limited is considering buying its own cargo ships after struggling to find a vessel capable of moving just 1,000 tonnes of cement from Nigeria to Ghana, highlighting the growing logistics challenges facing the country’s non-oil exporters. The development suggests that for major Nigerian manufacturers, producing goods is no longer the only challenge; finding an affordable and reliable way to get those products to regional markets is becoming equally critical.
Sada Ladan-Baki, head of international trade export at Dangote Cement, disclosed the plan at a Lagos seminar on non-oil exports. According to him, the company is “moving forward towards getting our own ships” to support its export operations. The move comes as Dangote Cement, Africa’s largest cement producer, seeks to expand its presence across West Africa but faces limited shipping options for moving products by sea.
The shortage has also exposed a wider weakness in Nigeria’s maritime trade infrastructure. The country has been without a national shipping carrier since the Nigerian National Shipping Line was liquidated in 1995, leaving foreign operators to capture a significant share of the estimated $6 billion in annual freight earnings from Nigeria’s international trade. For Dangote, transporting cement overland to markets such as Ghana, Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast also comes with additional taxes and border-related costs.
Ladan-Baki said these charges are making regional cement exports increasingly difficult, pointing to an 18 percent Value Added Tax imposed in countries such as Benin and Ivory Coast. He argued that shipping could provide a more efficient alternative, but the company has been unable to secure a vessel for the Nigeria-Ghana route. “You cannot get a ship that will take your goods from here to Ghana. None,” he said, underscoring the severity of the vessel shortage.
Dangote’s proposed move could add pressure on the Nigerian government to address the country’s shipping capacity gap. Ladan-Baki called for the activation of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, a pool created to support Nigerian vessel purchases and currently estimated at about $700 million. Although the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency opened an application portal in January 2026 with financing of up to $25 million per operator, no funds had reportedly been disbursed seven months later. For Dangote and other exporters, the message is becoming clear: without ships, Nigeria’s ambition to grow non-oil exports may struggle to leave the dock.
source: billionaireafrica
