Nigeria Makes History as Firm Unveils First-Ever Nigerian Container Ship, Maps Out New Route

• History has been made with the launch of the first-ever fully Nigerian-owned container shipping line
• The launch of this line trigger optimism for the Nigerian maritime industry as it offers importers and exporters more options
• The company has also promised that it will be offering direct shipping to locations that were earlier not available

Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon, a journalist with Legit.ng, has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

A Nigerian logistics firm, Clarion Shipping West Africa Limited, has made history by being the first to launch a Nigerian-owned container shipping line.

The company acquired the vessel, MV Ocean Dragon, with IMO number 9508770, which arrived the Tin Can Island Port Lagos on July 1, 2025.

With the arrival of this vessel and launch of the container shipping line, Nigeria has an opportunity to participate actively in the global maritime business.

According to the Vice Chairman of Clarion Shipping West Africa Limited, Mrs. Bernadine Eloka, the company has a broader vision to fill the gaps in Nigeria’s logistics value chain.

Exporters can access direct shipping to several locations

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, which held at the Five Star Terminal, Lagos on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, Eloka stated that the new vessel will serve the Nigerian local market, connecting it to local and continental ports.

This will cut down on previous delays experienced in the past due to indirect transits and road transportation.

Eloka explained:

“Instead of moving cargo containers by road from Lekki to Apapa, Tin Can, Onitsha, Port-Harcourt or Calabar, MV Ocean Dragon can easily hold 349 Twentyfoot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of those containers and take them easily to these locations directly within two days.

"The vessel is also meant to service African countries like Cotonou, Ghana, Sierra Leone, even as far as Egypt and South Africa.”

The firm is also advancing local capacity development and encouraging Nigeria’s local content. The Managing Director of the company, Ada Eloka, disclosed that over 70% of the crewmen were Nigerians.

She declared:

“I want it to be a Nigerian vessel run by Nigerians because Nigerians can do this.”

More options for exporters and importers

For a long time, this space has been dominated by foreign-owned lines, but this new container shipping line gives Nigerian importers and exporters an option that is entirely Nigerian-owned.

With the company offering shipping services within Nigerian states, importers and business owners have the chance to save time in shipping goods within Nigeria and from Nigeria to other countries, This Day news reports.

This can hopefully end the era of shipping companies imposing random surcharges on Nigerian importers and exporters.

French shipping company hikes charges on Nigerian cargoes

Meanwhile, a French shipping company has hiked import charges on every 20-foot container cargo

Legit.ng reported that Nigerian importers are now required to pay additional charges on every cargo coming from five countries.

Other West African countries are affected by the directive, including Ghana and other of Nigeria's neighbours.

Source: Legit.ng