What Burutu seaport means to local, foreign manufacturing companies

Burutu Seaport which is located in Burutu in Delta state, Southern Nigeria, is sandwiched on both sides of the Forcados River, a channel of the Niger River Delta. It is about 20 miles (32 km) upstream from the Bight of Benin initially served as a link between river transport and the sea since the Royal […]

Burutu Seaport which is located in Burutu in Delta state, Southern Nigeria, is sandwiched on both sides of the Forcados River, a channel of the Niger River Delta.

It is about 20 miles (32 km) upstream from the Bight of Benin initially served as a link between river transport and the sea since the Royal Niger Company established a basee there in the late 19th century.

From here, there was export of palm oil and palm kernels, rubber, and timber to companies in Europe and America.

In addition, peanuts (groundnuts) and cotton from Northern Nigeria and Chad, palm produce and timber from eastern Nigeria, and sesame seeds and peanuts from Kogi, Benue, and Plateau states were shipped out.

These products are brought by motorized rivercraft that navigated up the Forcados and the Niger to Onitsha, the Niger’s largest port, and thence to the port of Burutu.

In the 70s and 80s, most firms such as Dunlop, Liver Brothers and Leventis shipped raw materials which they purchased from the East and Niger Delta, through Burutu port to their factories in Lagos.

Similarly, offshore petroleum deposits were discovered near Burutu in 1964, and in the following year the first crude oil from the state was exported (from a loading point at sea).

However, Burutu was made even popular because of its shipbuilding and repairing facilities, but it also served as an agricultural trade centre for the region.

The Port became moribund after the civil war but was given a Master Concessionaire status by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) pursuant to approvals from the Infrastructure Concession & Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and Federal Executive Council (FEC) in 2023.

However, there appears to be a glimmer of hope for those in the manufacturing sector as NPA is poised to consolidate the gains made in the facilitation of exports by bringing Burutu port back to life.

The current Management of NPA, led by its Managing Director, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, has assured of providing the technical guidance and allied support necessary for operationalization of Burutu Port in Delta State.

Dantsoho gave the assurances when he received the Chairman and Executives of Akewa Colmar Terminal Limited (ACTL), the concessionaire of Burutu Port on Thursday 28th November, 2024 at the NPA Headquarters in Lagos.

Speaking during the meeting, Dantsoho said, “To deepen our competitiveness, we must deepen our capacity to attract and retain huge investments in our Port infrastructure. I say this in view of the transformational developments being witnessed in the maritime countries along the coast of West and Central Africa.

“Whilst we are working assiduously to optimize the Warri channel, we cannot allow the potential of the navigable waters around the Delta Port clusters which can bolster Nigeria’s solid minerals export go to waste. We therefore set to progress this auspicious project to its next milestone once the report of the technical team is submitted in two weeks”.

Located at the coastal end of the River Niger with linkages to other ports along the Niger / Benue Rivers, Burutu Port was Commissioned in 1887 as the first modern Port in Africa, and was the main logistics port for British trade with Nigeria.