Maersk port arm lines up Badagry as next Nigerian gateway

APM Terminals has signed an agreement to enter exclusive negotiations over the development of Nigeria’s long-planned Badagry deepsea port, reviving a multibillion-dollar project west of Lagos.

The memorandum of understanding was signed in Copenhagen by AP Moller-Maersk chief executive Vincent Clerc, on behalf of APM Terminals, and Didi Ndiomu, managing director of Badagry Port Development and Quinn McGrath Marine and Environmental Services.

The agreement will see the parties explore APM Terminals’ involvement in developing the greenfield port, which is designed to handle substantially larger containerships than Nigeria’s existing Lagos terminals and create new transhipment capacity in West Africa.

The deal was signed during a visit to Denmark by Nigeria’s minister of marine and blue economy Adegboyega Oyetola.

APM Terminals also used the visit to discuss extending its existing concessions at the Apapa Container Terminal in Lagos and the West Africa Container Terminal at Onne. No details were given on the length or terms of potential extensions.

“Developing Badagry as a greenfield project will further ease congestion in city ports and further open new opportunities,” said Igor van den Essen, APM Terminals’ managing director for Africa and Europe.

Badagry has been on Nigeria’s port development agenda for years but has struggled to move from planning into construction.

Nigeria’s federal government approved the project under a 45-year build-own-operate-transfer concession in 2022, putting development costs at around $2.5bn.

Current plans envisage a first phase with 1.2m teu of annual container capacity, a 740-m quay and 18 m depth alongside. The wider masterplan includes container, general cargo, ro-ro and liquid bulk facilities as well as an offshore supply base and logistics zone.

At full development, Nigerian authorities have previously put the port’s potential container capacity at around 3.9m teu a year.

Badagry Port Development said last week that the scheme had moved into an implementation phase and was seeking strategic financial partners.

APM Terminals already has a sizeable Nigerian footprint through Apapa and Onne. The group has previously said its terminals handle about half of the country’s container traffic and has committed further investment to expand capacity and modernise operations.