Dangote Refinery has turned to Angola’s fleet for the shipment of its crude and refined products.
Speaking at the 2025 Maritime Law Seminar in Lagos, President of the African Shipowners Association in Nigeria, Ladi Olubowale, who disclosed this, explained that Dangote’s decision to rely on Angola-based vessels for logistics was because Nigerian ship owners do not have vessels with capacity for the cargoes.
The retired ship captain explained that unless Nigeria builds its maritime capacity to handle deep-water operations, major opportunities like this will continue to elude the local shipping industry.
“We simply do not have the right kind of ships needed for Dangote’s petroleum products. We lack Supermax vessels, Suezmax vessels, and Aframax vessels,” he stated.
Olubowale noted that as a result, Nigeria is missing out on crucial segments of the logistics value chain at Dangote’s refinery.
Similarly, Captain Tajudeen Alao, President of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), told Vanguard that Dangote had sought local ship owners to transport its products to several West African countries but found none who could meet the necessary requirements.
He called on the government to expedite action in the release of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), which would enable local operators to participate more actively in the refinery’s logistics operations and similar opportunities across West Africa region.
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