The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency has intensified enforcement of the Cabotage regime, detaining four vessels over alleged violations of Nigeria’s coastal shipping regulations as part of efforts to strengthen compliance with local content requirements in the maritime sector.
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The vessels identified during the enforcement operation were MT HOLMES, MT FUJAIRAH ENERGY, JS GRATITUDE and MT BORA, all within the Lagos maritime domain.
According to NIMASA, the operation focused on vessels of interest identified through intelligence gathering, surveillance and compliance profiling.
The Agency said some of the vessels detained during the exercise had since regularised their infractions and were subsequently released.
The enforcement exercise, code-named Operation Sea Guardian, was conducted as a follow-up initiative aimed at strengthening compliance with the Cabotage regime, verifying operators’ obligations, assessing surcharge and levy compliance, and ensuring adherence to applicable maritime regulations.
The operation involved the deployment of Deep Blue assets to track, board, inspect and verify the operational status of vessels identified through intelligence reports and other compliance indicators.
NIMASA said the exercise also involved cooperation among its enforcement personnel, the Nigerian Navy, the Maritime Guard Command and C4i intelligence personnel.
Reacting to the operation, the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, said similar enforcement exercises would become more frequent and warned operators that violations would attract sanctions in accordance with the law.
According to him, the Agency had earlier notified operators of plans to strengthen enforcement of indigenous participation requirements in Nigeria’s coastal and inland shipping trade.
“We had earlier served notice of enhanced enforcement of indigenous participation in our coastal and inland trade, and this is exactly what we are doing,” Mobereola said.
He urged vessel operators to ensure full compliance with applicable maritime regulations to avoid regulatory sanctions.
“It is therefore in the interest of operators to ensure total compliance because defaulters will be visited with stiff sanctions in line with the law,” he added.
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