The Sea Empowerment and Research Centre (SEREC) has highlighted unresolved automation and modernisation delays, persistent high operational costs, weak intermodal connectivity, severe foreign exchange volatility, regulatory uncertainty and macroeconomic instability as setbacks for Nigeria’s port competitiveness.
The research body said the challenges have continued to impact trade and investor confidence, shipping decisions, trade volumes, port traffic and stakeholders’ sentiment.
SEREC stated this in its communiqué on the ‘Reconciled Reflection on 2025 and Strategic Expectations for the New Year’ released by the Head of Research, Dr Eugene Nweke.
The centre said that 2025 marked a period of policy transition and strategic repositioning, amid unresolved structural and economic challenges that must be urgently addressed to strengthen competitiveness in the new year.
Highlighting the structural challenge in 2025, SEREC stated that port development and automation remained one of the most articulated but least consummated reform areas in 2025.
The group stressed that despite the existence of over 15 trade-related digital platforms across port agencies, interoperability remained weak, thereby leaving the human interface, which still accounts for an estimated 60-70 per cent of clearance processes, compared with below 30 per cent in leading regional ports.
According to SEREC, the National Single Window, widely seen as a critical reform tool, remained largely at a pilot stage, delaying expected reductions in clearance time, transaction costs and informal charges.
SEREC also highlighted Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS) modernisation and trade facilitation tools, migrating from the Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS II) to the new B’Odogwu platform that triggered temporary system disruptions, including downtime and clearance delays, estimated at 10 to 20 per cent longer processing times in affected commands.
Meanwhile, the group acknowledged significant structural gains recorded in 2025, including the deployment of non-intrusive inspection scanners across major ports and borders, expansion of the Authorised Economic Operator scheme, strengthening of Post Clearance Audit, the introduction of advance ruling and the deployment of geo-spatial truck surveillance systems and truck tracking, reducing physical checkpoints.
According to the research centre, the overall reforms were disruptive but strategically irreversible and require consolidation in 2026. On port performance, SEREC reported that ship traffic in 2025 remained largely flat, with marginal declines in some container and general cargo segments.
Lagos ports recorded modest improvement in vessel turnaround time, estimated at between 10 and 15 per cent, largely attributed to better road access and reduced truck congestion.
Despite this progress, Nigerian ports still trail key competitors such as Lome and Tema, while cargo dwell time remains significantly high at between 10 and 18 days, compared with seven to 10 days in regional peers and three to five days in global benchmarks.
On average, vessel turnaround in Nigerian ports still trails regional competitors, as Lome remains between two to three days, Tema records three to four days, while Apapa/Tin Can typically stands between five to seven days.
However, the primary causes identified include multiple agency inspections, duplicated documentation processes and partial automation and system overlaps.
SEREC stated that one of the strongest improvements recorded in 2025 was in truck turnaround time, which reduced from three to five days to between 24 and 48 hours on controlled corridors, although call-up system and logistics costs remain above regional averages, necessitating economic regulatory moderation.
Port safety and security also remained stable, supported by enhanced access control, surveillance systems and inter-agency coordination, improved operator confidence and reduced incident reports within port premises.
Despite these gains, SEREC stated that Nigeria remains one of the costliest maritime operating environments in West Africa due to persistent arbitrary and non-transparent charges, high terminal handling costs, overlapping levies and the introduction of the four per cent FOB charge as factors that continue to push up operational expenses.
These challenges, it warned, have contributed to cargo diversion and reinforced the dominance of neighbouring ports, such as Lomé, as preferred transhipment hubs.
The research body also noted that intermodal integration remained weak in 2025, with rail accounting for less than five per cent of port cargo evacuation, while inland waterways and pipelines remained largely underutilised.
SEREC cautioned that without efficient multimodal systems, Nigerian ports will continue to suffer high logistics costs and limited regional competitiveness.
Foreign exchange instability was identified as the single most destabilising factor affecting the maritime sector in 2025. The group stated that frequent duty recalculations, cargo abandonment, declining cargo throughput, reduced ship calls, and heightened investor caution were directly linked to currency volatility.
