Nigeria’s Ports Hit Record 129.3 Million Metric Tonnes in 2025 as Lekki Leads Export and Transshipment Surge

Nigeria’s maritime sector delivered one of its most impressive performances on record in 2025, with total cargo throughput, container volumes, and transshipment activity all posting historic gains, according to the 2025 Operational Performance Report released by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). The results signal a decisive shift in how Nigeria’s ports are functioning within regional and global trade networks — a shift driven not just by import demand, but increasingly by export momentum and Nigeria’s ambition to become a West African logistics hub.

The report, released on Tuesday, March 4, 2026, puts Nigeria’s total cargo throughput at over 129.3 million metric tonnes for 2025, up from approximately 103.6 million metric tonnes recorded in 2024 — representing a 24.8 percent year-on-year expansion. NPA Managing Director, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, described the result as one of the most significant annual increases in Nigeria’s maritime history, noting that it positions the country as a more competitive and strategic player in both regional and global trade.

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A Structural Shift in Trade Flows

While import cargo continues to account for the largest share of activity at Nigerian ports, the 2025 data reveals an important structural evolution. Exports accounted for 39.0 percent of total cargo throughput, while inward traffic represented 59.2 percent. Transshipment — cargo relayed through Nigerian ports to other destinations — contributed 1.8 percent of total volume.

The rise in export activity carries significant economic implications. Analysts have consistently highlighted Nigeria’s dependence on crude oil as a structural vulnerability, with non-oil exports historically lagging behind the country’s economic potential. The 2025 NPA data suggests that diversification efforts are beginning to yield measurable results at the port level. The growth in non-oil export volumes validates federal policy measures aimed at reducing reliance on oil revenues and developing alternative trade corridors.

That said, the pace of export container growth remained modest at 3.1 percent for the year, while import-laden containers surged by 32.8 percent — a figure that reflects robust domestic demand. The far more dramatic story, however, was in transshipment, where containerised volumes recorded a staggering 205.8 percent increase, as international shipping lines increasingly used Nigerian ports as relay points for cargo destined for West and Central Africa.

Container Traffic Crosses 2.1 Million TEUs

Total container traffic at Nigerian ports surpassed 2.1 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in 2025, a 25.7 percent increase from the previous year. This milestone reflects both the growing volume of trade flowing through the country and the improving infrastructure capacity to handle it.

The explosion in transshipment containers — up 205.8 percent — is particularly significant. For years, Nigerian ports lost transshipment traffic to regional competitors such as Togo’s Port of Lomé and Ghana’s Tema Port, which had developed more advanced handling facilities and offered competitive turnaround times. The dramatic turnaround in 2025 suggests that Nigeria, anchored by the capabilities of Lekki Deep Sea Port, is now aggressively reclaiming that regional market.

The transshipment boom is also unlocking new revenue streams for port operators and strengthening Nigeria’s relevance in regional shipping networks, with international carriers increasingly factoring Nigerian ports into their sub-Saharan routing strategies.

Lekki Port: The Undisputed Champion

No port in Nigeria benefited more visibly from the 2025 surge than Lekki Deep Sea Port. The facility, which only commenced full commercial operations in April 2023, handled 40.6 percent of Nigeria’s total national cargo throughput — more than double the share of Onne Port (19.1 percent) and more than twice that of Apapa Port (16.7 percent).

Beyond raw volume, Lekki attracted the largest vessels calling at any Nigerian port, with an average Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of 55,712 — marginally ahead of Onne Port at 53,022 GRT. In comparison, Apapa and Tin Can Island received ships averaging 33,251 GRT and 36,909 GRT respectively, while Delta Ports handled vessels averaging 17,414 GRT. These figures illustrate the extent to which Lekki is reshaping the hierarchy of Nigeria’s maritime infrastructure.

By end of 2025, Lekki Port had reached approximately 50 percent of its designed operational capacity, with steady month-on-month growth in container throughput since September of that year. In the first three quarters of 2025 alone, Lekki handled an estimated N13.46 trillion in total trade value — making it the country’s second-largest port by trade value, ahead of both Tin Can Island (N9.31 trillion) and Onne Port (N6.76 trillion).

The port’s CEO, Mr. Wang Qiang, attributed part of the growth to increasing confidence by shipping lines and cargo owners. Barge operations have emerged as an important evacuation channel, currently accounting for approximately 10 percent of cargo movement from the port, while the ongoing Lagos–Calabar Coastal Road project is expected to ease congestion and improve land access over time.

Lekki’s rise is directly tied to its technical advantages. Built at a cost of approximately USD 1.6 billion as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and developed by China Harbour Engineering Company, it is Nigeria’s first fully automated deepwater facility. Its container terminal has an initial draft of 14 metres with potential for further dredging to 16.5 metres, and the port is equipped with three Super-post-Panamax ship-to-shore cranes — capable of reaching the rearmost container rows on the world’s largest vessels.

When fully built out across its planned three phases, Lekki Port will have a handling capacity of six million TEUs annually, firmly cementing its place as one of the largest and most capable port facilities in all of West Africa.

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Vessel Traffic and Commodity Mix

Total ship calls at Nigerian ports rose by nearly 12 percent to 4,477 vessels in 2025, reflecting broad-based growth across operational metrics. Although Tin Can Island Port recorded the highest frequency of ship arrivals — accounting for 22.7 percent of total ship calls — Lekki and Onne are increasingly attracting the larger, higher-value vessels that define international shipping trends.

In terms of commodity composition, liquid bulk cargo — covering fuel, chemicals, and petroleum products — remained the dominant category at 54.7 percent of total volume. Containerised cargo accounted for 24 percent. Analysts note that the increasing sophistication of vessel traffic, combined with the container growth trajectory, signals that Nigeria’s maritime sector is gradually aligning with global shipping standards and moving away from the predominantly bulk-cargo profile of earlier decades.

The National Single Window: A Game-Changer in Waiting

Looking beyond the 2025 figures, the NPA and the Federal Government have staked much of their forward momentum on two flagship initiatives: the port modernisation programme and the National Single Window (NSW) system.

The NSW is a federal initiative designed to implement a centralised electronic trade platform that streamlines processes for importers and exporters by integrating data from multiple government agencies. The project steering committee was officially inaugurated on April 16, 2024, presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) designated as lead implementing agencies.

Vice President Kashim Shettima, speaking at an inter-agency efficiency committee session in October 2025, outlined the ambitions underpinning the initiative. He said the government aims to reduce average cargo clearance time from 21 days to under seven days by the end of 2026, and to position Nigeria’s ports among the top three most efficient trade gateways on the African continent. Nigeria’s cargo dwell times have historically been estimated at 475 percent above the global average benchmark — an inefficiency that raises costs for businesses, pushes up consumer prices, and undermines export competitiveness.

The NSW platform is expected to reduce reliance on manual and paper-based processes, streamline electronic filing, improve transparency in the cargo clearance process, and ultimately lower the cost of trade for businesses operating through Nigerian ports.

Dr. Dantsoho echoed this forward-looking optimism, noting that the next phase of growth will be driven by the Federal Government-approved port modernisation programme alongside the NSW rollout. That programme is designed to overhaul ageing infrastructure across all major terminals — deepening berths, rehabilitating quays, expanding cargo-handling capacity, and deploying advanced digital solutions. The expected outcomes include faster vessel turnaround, reduced cargo dwell time, enhanced safety standards, and significantly improved operational efficiency.

What the Numbers Mean for Nigeria’s Economy

The performance figures from the 2025 NPA Operational Report carry implications that extend well beyond the port gates. Nigeria’s export diversification ambitions have long been a recurring theme in economic policy discussions, but tangible progress has been difficult to demonstrate. The 2025 data offers a rare concrete data point: the country’s ports are not only handling more cargo — they are handling a broader, more complex mix of goods that reflects a gradual rebalancing of the trade structure.

The surge in transshipment is perhaps the most telling indicator. Transshipment business is highly competitive globally and tends to gravitate toward the most efficient, best-equipped port facilities. The 205.8 percent jump in transshipment containers means that international shipping lines made a commercial decision to route West and Central African cargo through Nigerian facilities rather than regional competitors. That is an endorsement not just of infrastructure, but of the overall efficiency and reliability of the Nigerian port system.

The revenue implications for the NPA are also significant. Transshipment cargo generates handling fees, storage charges, and associated logistics revenue without placing additional demand on domestic supply chains. As the transshipment model scales, it has the potential to transform Nigeria’s ports into profit-generating regional hubs in their own right — independent of the performance of any single commodity sector.

For the broader economy, the expansion in port activity supports employment across freight forwarding, logistics, customs brokerage, warehousing, and trucking sectors. The Lekki Deep Sea Port alone is projected to create approximately 169,972 direct and indirect jobs over its operational life, in addition to generating substantial revenue for state and federal agencies through taxes, duties, and royalties.

The Road Ahead

Nigeria’s 2025 maritime performance is significant, but it also exposes the distance still to be covered. The cargo dwell time challenge remains a structural weakness. Rail connectivity to Lekki Port — critical for cost-effective inland cargo movement given the scale of industrial activity in the Lekki corridor — is yet to be delivered. And while transshipment volumes surged, the absolute figures remain well below those of Africa’s most competitive hub ports.

The credibility of the National Single Window rollout, the pace of the infrastructure modernisation programme, and the resolution of inter-agency coordination bottlenecks will all determine whether 2025’s performance is a springboard or a peak.

What is clear from the 2025 NPA Operational Performance Report is that Nigeria’s ports are moving in the right direction. The combination of Lekki Port’s deepwater capabilities, a rapidly growing transshipment trade, steady export momentum, and a federal government increasingly focused on port efficiency creates a foundation that, if well managed, could genuinely reposition Nigeria as the dominant maritime gateway in West and Central Africa over the next decade.

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photo source: Google

By: Montel Kamau

Serrari Financial Analyst

5th March, 2026