A maritime research group under the auspices of the Sea Empowerment Research Centre has stated that shipping and ancillary port charges have increased sharply over the years, far outpacing improvements in service quality and efficiency.
The group, in a statement on Monday signed by its Head of Research, Mr Eugene Nweke, maintained that many traditional cost justifications advanced by service providers, foreign exchange volatility, energy costs, and operational risks have either stabilised or moderated.
SEREC stressed that the cumulative effect of unchecked charges is inflationary, with direct consequences for businesses, consumers, and national economic competitiveness.
“Shipping and ancillary port charges have increased sharply over the years, far outpacing improvements in service quality and efficiency. Many traditional cost justifications advanced by service providers, such as foreign exchange volatility, energy costs, and operational risks, have either stabilised or moderated. The cumulative effect of unchecked charges is inflationary, with direct consequences for businesses, consumers, and national economic competitiveness. These realities underscore the urgent need for reform, transparency, and regulatory intervention within the shipping and port services sector,” SEREC stated.
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The group noted that while the grievances may be valid, tactics such as street-level shutdowns, blocking business premises, and targeted operational disruptions run counter to the image, ambitions, and strategic goals of a modern maritime industry.
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According to SEREC, such approaches expose practitioners and associations to legal, civil, and reputational risks, stressing that such an approach could also undermine years of effort to reposition freight forwarding as a regulated, professional, and knowledge-driven vocation.
“Create avoidable collateral damage to cargo interests, importers, and indigenous businesses, distract attention from the substantive policy failures, and shift focus to tactics rather than issues,” it added.
The group advised that modern industrial advocacy must rely on structured engagement, evidence-based pressure, and institutional mechanisms, not physical confrontation or ad hoc enforcement.
SEREC maintained that a professional maritime industry must embrace data-driven engagement, including cost benchmarking, trend analysis, and regional comparisons.
It emphasised that a professional maritime industry must have collective but coordinated actions, anchored on joint communiqués, unified demands, and clear negotiation frameworks.
“Graduated escalation mechanisms, including formal petitions, regulatory complaints, arbitration requests, and lawful service withdrawal where necessary. Strategic media engagement that informs, educates, and builds public understanding rather than sensationalism. Industrial action should be a tool of last resort, not a first response,” it stated.
SEREC also highlighted that at the heart of recurring disputes over shipping charges lies a systemic regulatory deficit, adding that the absence of firm, transparent, and enforceable oversight over shipping line tariffs and ancillary charges has allowed “arbitrary pricing, lack of cost justification, and abuse of dominant market positions.”
It advised the Nigerian Shippers Council, which is the port’s economic regulator, to assert its statutory mandate without fear or favour.
“Establish tariff review and approval frameworks, and enforce cost transparency and stakeholder consultation,” it stressed.
SEREC lamented what it described as the failure of the professional regulatory architecture to consistently enforce standards, ethics, and orderly conduct.
“A credible professional regulator must promote lawful and civil engagement, sanction conduct that undermines industry credibility, and lead advocacy through institutional channels rather than street enforcement,” it added.
The group advised that both economic and professional regulators must rise above institutional lethargy, regulatory capture, and selective enforcement.
SEREC, however, called for an immediate suspension of street-style shutdowns and physical enforcement actions.
It reiterated the need for the establishment of an industry shipping charges review forum involving regulators and stakeholders.
“Development of a national port cost benchmarking framework, mandatory cost-justification disclosures by shipping lines for tariff adjustments, strengthening of professional regulatory enforcement to promote orderly advocacy and institutionalisation of dispute resolution and arbitration mechanisms,” SEREC added.
SEREC is an independent maritime policy, research, and advocacy organisation focused on Nigeria’s maritime, shipping, ports, and logistics sectors. It is known for conducting evidence-based research and issuing policy position papers on regulatory, economic, and operational issues affecting the Nigerian maritime industry.
