First Commercial Vessel berths at Lekki port

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has announced the arrival of the largest container vessel at the Lekki Deep Seaport. The vessel, owned and operated by French shipping firm CMA/CGM, arrived ahead of the official commissioning of the port by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 23, 2022.

The $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Seaport, which is the largest and one of the biggest in West Africa, is set to revolutionize the way goods are transported and traded in Nigeria.

The Lekki Port is expected to not only improve efficiency and connectivity but also serve as a major driver for economic growth in the region. The port’s main breakwater is 1.5km long with a turning circle of 600 meters, enough for a vessel up to 16,000 standard containers, and an approach channel of 11km long.

The port has three terminals: the container terminal, the liquid terminal and the dry bulk terminal. The container terminal has an initial draft of 14 meters, with the potential for further dredging to 16.5 meters. The terminal is able to handle 2.5 million twenty-foot standard containers per year.

The deep-sea port of Lekki is the first port in Nigeria with ship-to-shore cranes. It has three of these container gantry cranes, which belong to the “Super-post-Panamax”