The Sea Empowerment and Research Center (SEREC) has warned that persistent regulatory gaps in the governance of port and shipping charges could cost the Nigerian economy between ₦500 billion and ₦700 billion annually, while also worsening inflationary pressures and undermining the country’s competitiveness in regional trade.
In a policy memorandum dated January 14, 2026, and addressed to the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy through the Permanent Secretary and the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), the research and advocacy group presented a post-protest assessment of recent disruptions at the Apapa port corridor and their wider economic implications.
The memorandum, signed by Eugene Nweke, Head of Research at SEREC, followed recent street-style protests by freight forwarding practitioners over increases in shipping line and terminal charges, which culminated in the physical shutdown of a shipping company’s operations and significant disruption to port activities. While acknowledging the NSC’s subsequent intervention directive that temporarily suspended the contentious charges, SEREC said the episode exposed deeper systemic weaknesses in port charges regulation.
According to the policy document, the Apapa port corridor handles over 60 per cent of Nigeria’s containerised imports, conservatively estimated at between 1.5 million and 1.8 million TEUs annually. SEREC noted that even a marginal increase of between ₦150,000 and ₦250,000 per container translates into an additional annual cost burden of ₦225 billion to ₦450 billion on the economy.
These costs, it said, are inevitably passed on to manufacturers, importers, small and medium-scale enterprises, and final consumers.
The organisation observed that port and shipping charges now account for as much as 30 to 40 per cent of the total landed cost of some imports. It warned that unchecked increases in logistics costs function as a “hidden inflation tax,” undermining national efforts to control rising prices. Citing conservative estimates,
SEREC stated that every 10 per cent increase in logistics costs is associated with a 1.5 to 2 per cent rise in consumer prices, particularly affecting food items, pharmaceuticals and industrial inputs.
While recognising the legitimacy of stakeholders’ grievances over rising charges, SEREC faulted the methods adopted during the protests. It estimated that physical shutdowns of port operations cost the economy between ₦3 billion and ₦5 billion daily in delayed cargo clearance, demurrage, storage charges and lost productivity. It also warned that such actions expose practitioners and associations to potential civil liability claims running into tens of billions of naira, further weakening an already fragile sector.
The memorandum also highlighted regulatory ambiguity as a major concern, noting that the lack of a clear distinction between tariff consultation and tariff approval creates uncertainty for operators and investors. According to SEREC, investor surveys consistently show that regulatory unpredictability increases required returns on investment by three to five per cent, a factor that ultimately drives up port service costs.
SEREC further criticised what it described as reactive regulatory interventions, warning that actions taken only after disruptions have occurred signal institutional weakness and increase the likelihood of recurring disputes. Such cycles, it said, heighten the risk of repeated economic shocks to port operations and national supply chains.
Outlining the broader policy implications, SEREC warned that if current gaps persist, Nigeria could face rising logistics-driven inflation adding between 0.7 and 1.2 percentage points to headline inflation annually, erosion of competitiveness that could divert 10 to 15 per cent of West African transit cargo to neighbouring ports, and reputational damage that could undermine the Marine and Blue Economy’s projected contribution of between ₦7 trillion and ₦10 trillion to GDP over the medium term.
To address these challenges, the organisation recommended the institutionalisation of a binding national tariff review and approval framework, including mandatory cost-justification disclosures by service providers. It estimated that such measures could reduce unjustified charges by 10 to 20 per cent, yielding annual savings of between ₦200 billion and ₦400 billion for the economy.
SEREC also proposed the creation of a standing, multi-stakeholder Port Charges Review and Mediation Forum to resolve disputes proactively. While estimating the annual cost of running such a body at between ₦300 million and ₦500 million, it said avoided losses from prevented disruptions could reach ₦50 billion to ₦100 billion each year.
Other recommendations included strengthening regulatory communication and transparency through proactive publication of tariff approvals, enforcement of professional conduct standards to curb unlawful protest actions, and aligning port economic regulation with broader macroeconomic stabilisation objectives under the Marine and Blue Economy agenda.
In its conclusion, SEREC described the recent protest episode as a “policy stress test” that demonstrated the economic cost of weak and reactive regulation. It stressed that strengthening port charges governance is not merely an industry concern but a national economic imperative central to inflation control, trade competitiveness and sustainable growth in the marine and blue economy sector.
