Aminu Umar, the President of the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping has said the freight rate increased to 70 per cent as 50 per cent of foreign trading vessels exited Nigeria waters in the past 16 months. He disclosed this recently while speaking on the prevailing challenges in Nigeria’s Shipping Industry. He said insecurity and policies are responsible for exiting foreign vessels from Nigeria waters. He explained that the development had led to a scarcity of ships in the West African region, shutting up the freight rate. According to him, there is a more robust market for vessels in Europe than Africa due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. “About 40 to 50 per cent of vessels plying the Nigerian waters have returned to Europe between 2022 and date. So 40 per cent of the capacity has moved back to Europe. “The truth is that these are foreign-owned vessels trading within the West African sub-region, which includes Nigeria. “So what it means is that it has created scarcity which will increase the freight rate. So the freight rate has gone up by almost 70 per cent due to this. There is a 70 per cent increase in freight rate, which went up to 100 per cent before but has reduced to 70 per cent.†About five months ago, lawmakers in Nigeria passed a bill to restrict foreign vessels from operating in the country as insecurity permeates the waterways.