The Nigerian Ports Economic Regulator Agency (NPERA) has been charged to establish a live port performance dashboard covering ports across the country, with data on cargo dwell time, cost per twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and truck turnaround time, as well as to publish a gazette of approved port-related charges within 90 days.

According to industry operators, the dashboard should be published monthly, allowing the regulator and stakeholders to identify poor performance and hold operators accountable.

They also argued that any approved tariffs for terminal operators, shipping lines and haulage companies, as well as other port charges not contained in the gazette, should be considered illegal.

Director of International Trade at the Maritime Researchers and Authors Association of Nigeria (MARASSON), Sunday Ademuyiwa, said charges imposed by shipping lines and terminals at the ports account for over 60 per cent of the pain experienced by shippers.

He specifically mentioned container deposits, Liner Shipping Charges (LSS), Terminal Handling Charges (THC), arbitrary demurrage, shipping line surcharges, storage, documentation, trucking and port access costs.

Ademuyiwa cited the disparity between Tema and Lagos as an example, saying a container that costs about $1,200 in Tema could cost as much as $3,800 in Lagos due to about 20 hidden charges.

He argued that NPERA now has the authority to eliminate such charges, set prices, sanction erring operators, influence the cost of doing business and make Nigerian ports more competitive.

Ademuyiwa urged the agency to deploy pricing mechanisms and incentives to make the ports in Onne, Calabar, Warri and Lekki more competitive.

On the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Ademuyiwa said about 70 per cent of port delays were documentation-related, proposing the creation of a joint 48-Hour Cargo Release Task Force to accelerate cargo clearance.

Ademuyiwa called for joint enforcement of concession agreements among NPA and government partners, noting that terminals that fail to meet their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should receive multiple sanctions.

Ademuyiwa further called for partnerships with development institutions, including the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC), to fund and support port automation, with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as a partner for performance benchmarking.

Also speaking, the National President, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Tochukwu Ezisi, said the creation of NPERA would help reposition the country’s port governance system, especially by promoting greater transparency, fairness and efficiency in port operations through the separation of the operational functions of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) from regulatory oversight.

Ezisi said freight forwarders expect more transparent tariff structures, improved competitiveness and fairer mechanisms for resolving disputes, while shipping lines would gain a more predictable tariff regime and reduced monopolistic practices.

He said terminal operators would have clearer concession guidelines but face stricter regulatory monitoring.

According to him, the reform would also enable the NPA to focus more effectively on infrastructure development and service delivery by relieving it of its dual operational and regulatory responsibilities.

The NAGAFF President noted that consumers and traders anticipate reduced logistics costs and more efficient cargo clearance.

Ezisi expressed NAGAFF’s readiness to collaborate with NPERA, NPA and other industry stakeholders to ensure that the reform achieves its objectives of creating a more competitive, transparent and globally aligned maritime sector.