Maersk is seeking to win contracts to build and upgrade ports in Nigeria and Kenya as it  expands its African operations.

The company is awaiting a final sign-off on a contract to help build a new port in Badagry in Nigeria’s southern Lagos state, according to Lars Reno Jakobsen, the company’s senior vice president for Africa.

“That project, once it has been finalised could be more than US$2bn in terms of investment,” he said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town in early June. “Hopefully we can start some time this year. It will provide capacity, not only for containers, but also for oil, break-bulk and offshore.”