By Oluyinka Onigbinde
Nearly two months after the National Single Window (NSW) was officially launched on March 27, 2026, the platform is yet to onboard any shipping companies or key government agencies, despite earlier assurances that pilot operations would begin immediately with selected shipping lines.
Our correspondent gathered authoritatively that although Grimaldi Shipping Company was lined up for the pilot phase at launch, no shipping company has been successfully integrated or activated on the NSW portal since the launch date.
Industry sources within maritime and trade facilitation community are lamenting that the absence of live onboarding is an indication that the actual readiness of the system may not happen soon.
However, investigation by our correspondent revealed that discussions and stakeholder engagements have continued behind the scenes, with officials maintaining that onboarding is still within planned rollout stages.
A source familiar with operations Mr. David Olorunranti, who also work at one of the shipping companies confirmed that while engagements with the NSW team have taken place, actual deployment has not begun.
He noted that shipping lines have attended a series of meetings with project teams and consultants, with another round of technical sessions reportedly scheduled for later in the month.
Olorunranti pointed to technical integration challenges as a key factor slowing deployment, alleging that mismatches between systems used by government agencies and the NSW platform have created complications.
According to him, different agencies operate with varying digital architectures, which has made integration with Customs, terminals, and shipping companies more complex than initially anticipated.
He further claimed that inconsistencies between data formats and programming environments used across agencies have contributed to delays, requiring additional layers of system translation and reconciliation.
The stakeholder also argued that the complexity of Nigeria’s shipping environment, particularly the handling of mixed cargo manifests involving both containerised and general cargo within single billing documents, has added to the difficulty of achieving seamless integration.
He suggested that the pilot selection process itself, involving major terminals and shipping operations, has exposed gaps in system compatibility that were not fully anticipated during planning.
However, an official source at the National Single Window, who curiously spoke on condition of anonymity, gave a contrasting view, stating that onboarding of shipping lines remains on course and will begin in phases. The source said efforts are ongoing to ensure that multiple shipping companies are on-boarded before the end of the month, with broader operational rollout expected to commence shortly after.
The official added that earlier testing phases included manifest processing trials and limited integrations with logistics stakeholders, describing these as part of preparatory work ahead of full deployment.
The official further maintained that the platform itself is functional and that most challenges being experienced are linked to legacy data migration and backlog issues from existing agency systems rather than the NSW platform itself.
According to the source, services such as permits and licensing processes are already operating in some capacity, while outstanding issues relate largely to historical data and agency-specific backlogs.
Despite these assurances, stakeholders within the maritime sector remain divided over the state of readiness of the system, with some expressing concern that repeated timelines for onboarding shipping lines have not yet translated into live implementation.
