Clarion Shipping West Africa has launched Nigeria’s first fully indigenous container liner to boost regional trade and reduce reliance on foreign transshipment services.
The company began operations on July 3 with the arrival of its first vessel, MV Ocean Dragon, at Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.
The 322-foot (98-meter) vessel, with a deadweight of 6,100 tonnes and a capacity of 349 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), was acquired from Chinese owners.
The vessel, built in 2014, sails under the Panamanian flag. However, Clarion says 70% of the crew is Nigerian and plans to increase this number in the future to support local maritime development.
Clarion said it faced several challenges in acquiring and delivering the ship, including language barriers, technical issues, and an engine failure in Malaysia that forced the vessel to turn back during the trip.
The entire journey from China to Nigeria took 60 days. The company also noted the difficulty of flying Nigerian crew
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