The Nigerian Navy and Nigeria Police Force have debunked media reports that the Bonny Channel is blocked to maritime traffic due to the collision incident that happened on Wednesday, May 20, 2026 near the Federal Ocean Terminal at Onne.
In response to enquiries by Kristina Reports on the issue, the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base (FOB) Bonny and the Marine component of the Nigeria Police Force on Friday, May 22, 2026 dismissed such reports as baseless.
The Bonny Channel is an appellation used to represent the Bonny River, a major tidal river and an eastern distributary of the Niger River delta in Rivers State, southern Nigeria.
The Bonny Channel also refers to the Bonny Anchorage, an area on the Bonny River designated for ships to drop their anchor and wait safely for port pilots, weather clearance, or their turn to dock and load cargo.
A statement by the FOB Bonny on Friday, May 22, 2026 made available to Kristina Reports in Bonny asserted that no situation involving a blockade to traffic was existing along the Bonny Channel.
“Available information from assets at the Bonny Channel indicates that there is no blockade of Bonny Channel/Anchorage/River occasioned by the accident of MT Lady Martina and MV Maersk Valparaiso.”
“Normal maritime traffic continues as vessels transit the Channel without any interference.”
On its part, the Marine Police stated that no such signal has been received from its team on site at the scene, disclosing that “the State (Police) Crime Officer just left the point of collision back to the headquarters and investigation is underway”.
Some media outlets (not Kristina Reports) have reported that the Channel was blocked as a result of the collision which occurred on Wednesday, May 22, 2026.
The FOB Bonny assured maritime commuters of safe passage, saying it will continue to provide diligent overwatch of that aspect of Nigeria’s maritime domain.