The Chairman of the League of Maritime Editors 2026 Annual General Meeting and Conference, Captain Iheanacho Ebubeogu, has called on participants to carefully deliberate on the four papers to be presented at the event, with a view to proffering practical solutions to the longstanding imbalance in cargo vessel calls between Lagos and Eastern ports.
Speaking in his opening address at the conference held at BWC Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, on 20 August 2026, Captain Ebubeogu said the theme of the conference has been a contentious one, touching on all sides of industry passion and leaning sentiments, as each stakeholder has over time created an impression derived from either statistical data, perception or both.
He said the choice of the topic by the League of Maritime Editors is an indication that the organisation also has concern and interest in the maritime industry, and particularly at this time, on the state of the economic growth of the Eastern ports.
Captain Ebubeogu noted that ports owned and regulated by the Nigerian Ports Authority are referred to by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as SOLAS Ports, because they play host to ships classified by that organisation as Convention Ships, which are ships of 500GT and above engaged in coastal and international trade.
He said IMO requirements for this class of ports are that they shall ensure maritime safety, marine environmental protection, maritime security, and the expeditious movement of vessels and cargo in and out of the ports to reduce their turnaround time and dwell time respectively.
The Chairman explained that the administrative and regulatory roles of these ports are in two folds: as a hub of maritime logistics, and as international border posts for relevant enforcements.
As a hub of maritime logistics, ports galvanise shipping, port and terminal operations, and freight forwarding, with actors in this segment being shipping companies, ports authority and terminal operators, and freight forwarders.
As international border posts, ports serve as enforcement points for economic protection of the nation, national border post security, and enforcement of fiscal laws and regulations, with actors in this segment being Customs, Immigration, Port Health, NDLEA, DSS and others.
Captain Ebubeogu said the geographical delineation of these ports in Nigeria categorises them into Western Ports and Eastern Ports. The Western Ports include Lagos Port Complex, Tin Can Island Port and Lekki Deep Sea Port, while the Eastern Ports include Delta Port (Warri), Rivers Port, Onne Port and Calabar Port.
He said every port strives to maintain a high level of port reputation and competitiveness. Port reputation, he explained, refers to the overall public and industry perception of a port’s reliability, efficiency, safety records, security records, regulatory compliance and trustworthiness.
Port competitiveness, he said, is a port’s ability to attract shipping lines, cargo owners and logistic business by offering faster services, lower cost, and better connections than rival ports. It determines how well a port performs in local, regional and global trade.
The Chairman said the above ports in their various locations are expected to operate in a conducive environment that will ensure comfort to shipping with a high level of operational efficiency, safety, fastness and at low logistic cost. These performances are expected to earn all the ports a steady Port Economic Growth.
He explained that Port Economic Growth refers to the increase in regional or national wealth generated by a seaport’s operations and infrastructure. It occurs when a port’s capacity, logistics efficiency, and throughput expand, acting as a funnel that drives industrial development and connects local businesses to the global market.
Its key benefits, he said, include massive job creation, industrial and business growth, revenue generation, infrastructure investment, lower consumer prices, international trade access, and the development of industrial and commercial hubs.
Captain Ebubeogu also noted that the port bottom-line success, amongst other factors, is centred on the volume of the cargo-market it will attract to itself. He said the cargo-market is categorised into two groups: captive cargo and contestable cargo.
Captive cargo, he explained, is the volume of goods and raw materials that natively originate from or are destined for a seaport’s immediate local and regional area. This traffic relies on that specific port because transport cost makes using other competing ports impractical.
Key characteristics of captive cargo, he said, include local origin, where goods are produced or consumed by nearby industries; guaranteed volume, which provides a stable baseline of business for the port; and cost advantage, where short transit distances make the port cheaper to use than rivals.
Contestable cargo, on the other hand, is discretionary freight that can easily move to other competing regional ports based on price or services. Captain Ebubeogu said this contestable cargo is the bone of contention, as the Eastern Ports are observed to not have their fair market share of it.
He said the global shipping community’s expectations of a port to attract cargo patronage include operational efficiency, deepwater nautical access, competitive tariff costs, reliable hinterland connections (road and rail), fast customs clearance procedures, safety and security records, and regulatory compliance.
Captain Ebubeogu said a combination of IMO requirements for ports and the expectations of the global shipping community for port cargo patronage will form a template to assess Nigerian ports both in regional and in-country competitions for contestable cargos.
He further said the forum should take up the responsibility to dilate on the characteristics of the port of the future, namely Smart Port and Green Port. He said this has become necessary as government has recently embarked on the Port Stimulus Project to enhance ports economic growth through ports rehabilitation and modernisation as well as capacity building.
The Chairman explained that the correlation between Port Stimulus, rehabilitation, and modernisation are interconnected strategies designed to drive Port Economic Growth. Together, they transform struggling maritime facilities like the Eastern ports into efficient trade hubs, directly lowering transportation costs, increasing cargo throughput, and boosting overall national GDP.
He said the relationship is circular and mutually reinforcing; port economic growth drives the need for rehabilitation, while successful rehabilitation and modernisation act as the primary catalyst that unlocks further economic growth.
Captain Ebubeogu therefore expressed expectation that the four papers to be delivered at the conference will in one way or the other leave participants with relevant ingredients that will give insight into what the matter is and possibly proffer practical solutions to reverse the existing imbalance in disproportionate cargo vessel calls to the Eastern ports.
He enjoined all participants to listen carefully to the presentations to enable them collectively rise up as one of the sources that will proffer pragmatic solutions to this topical issue confronting the Nigerian Port System.