Concessioning and container traffic operations in Nigerian ports

Abstract

This study examined the concept of concessioning and container shipping operations in Nigerian Ports and its effect on ports revenue. It analyzed the improvements in container traffic since concession, trend of container traffic after concession, and its influence on ports revenue. The major objectives however are to ascertain if there is a significant difference in the container traffic between the pre- concession era and post-concession era, to examine if there is a significant change in container traffic with respect to years of operations within the confines of the Ports system, and to ascertain if there is any significant influence of container traffic on ports revenue. Secondary data collected from government agencies were employed in this study. The study employed the use of descriptive, inferential statistics and trend analysis were used in analyzing if the container traffic can be predicted based on data from previous years of operations, simple linear regression was employed to ascertain the influence of container traffic on port revenue and T-test was used to find out if there is any significant difference between the pre and post concession era. The results from the findings indicated container traffic improvements after concession, and positive influence of container traffic on ports revenue. Also, the study found that there is no significant change in container traffic with respect to years of operations of the Ports. It was however recommended that the relevant stake holders in the Nigerian maritime industry should make concerted efforts to enhance container traffic to help improve ports revenue. The result of the findings also indicated that, the Container traffic has improved the ports output through the emergence of inland container depots and segmented bonded warehouses across the six geopolitical zones of the nation at the end.