Nigeria and Denmark have commenced negotiation targeted at increasing investment in the maritime sector in both nations.

SEAFARERS’ charity Stella Maris-Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) has launched a new version of its  global port chaplains’ directory  which helps seafarers get access to pastoral, practical and emotional support wherever they are in the world.

PREDICTIONS as to how last year would end for the port of Durban proved reasonably accurate. Containerised cargo, which always attracts the most attention in the port and for the good reason of Durban having the premier container terminal in sub-Saharan Africa, finished with a throughput of 2.975million TEU (twenty foot container equivalents) – up from the 2.699million in 2017.

The Nigerian Navy in Akwa Ibom State has arrested four suspects for the smuggling of 120 bags of contraband rice.

THE Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Western Marine Command, WMC, is set to bury seized goods worth hundreds of millions of Naira allocated to Internally Displaced Individuals (IDP) saying that the management of the IDPs failed to come forward to take the goods and they are now expired.

CONTRARY to media report on the competencies of the academic personnel at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, Oron, in Akwa Ibom State, the Rector, Commodore Emmanuel Effedua, has said that   only qualified teachers are employed for the subjects they are qualified to teach.

MOVING into the Smart Ship Era What’s next? It’s a simple question to ask but it’s not so simple to answer. Companies are constantly scanning the horizon to see what’s coming and what the future holds.

THE Federal Government through the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA said that it has projected a ten percent, (10%)  increase in ship tonnage in the nation’s shipping sub-sector for the 2019.

The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has said that the Nigerian port system is losing over $20billion in annual revenue due to inefficiency and decayed infrastructure.

Cargo throughput, excluding crude oil, at Nigerian ports, witnessed the lowest performance in 2018 with a total of 35.9m tonnes.

According to the report, the Nigerian maritime industry continues to receive support from stakeholders in repositioning it for efficiency and global best practices a development that has led to an encouraging move in the Liner shipping connectivity index

Barely two weeks after smugglers killed an operative and seriously injured another attached to the Ogun Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, the dare devil elements last week attacked an anti-smuggling team from the Command, at a hideout in Owode (Yewa) Community, where vehicles laden with suspected smuggled    rice had taken temporary cover.

 Customs Area Controller, CAC, of Seme Border Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Garba Uba Mohammed, has resorted to a dialogue with the border communities close to Owode, a renowned smuggling route, over open display of smuggled foreign parboiled rice for sale.

The Seme Border Command Area Controller, Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, Comptroller Mohammed Uba, has disclosed that the command generated a total of  N6.3 billion revenue in 2018. This represents about 76% of the revenue target given to the Command.

A fresh annual report from the International Maritime Bureau shows that attacks in West Africa pushed piracy numbers up in 2018. In terms of military and law enforcement, an international operation is not complicated, so what is needed above all is the will to act.