ABSTRACT
The shipping industry plays a major part in international trade and can affect a country's productivity and wealth, such as Nigeria. The marine sector in Nigeria has brought about a number of changes to the country's seaport, including increased freight costs, a sluggish pace of service delivery, bureaucracy, outdated technology, improper fees and formalities, unclear and inadequate infrastructure, redundant operational procedures, and so forth. The current study has been conducted to evaluate the economics and shipping operations of the Nigerian sea port, as well as their consequences on consumers and import/export enterprises, in an effort to propose solutions to the aforementioned changes. In addition to literature studies, field survey questionnaires were utilised to gather data from pertinent seaport industry stakeholders in order to fulfil the goals and objectives of the study. This approach was known as opinion discriminative analysis. The data acquired was analysed using regression analysis, which is a feature of computer analytical software known as the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Respondent responses were weighed using a five-point Likert scale. The study's findings revealed that 127 respondents, or 42% of the sample, strongly agreed with the survey's findings that Nigeria's ports operating system is inadequate. Furthermore, 93 respondents who also agreed with the survey's questions were included in the total of 220 respondents, or 73% of the sample, who thought that Nigeria's seaport operations were subpar and had a negative impact on the business environment. Responses from stakeholders in the academic, business, and maritime sectors all made it abundantly evident that there are still major shortcomings in the administration and operations of Nigeria's sea ports, which have led to the closure of important import/export companies because they were unable to keep up with the enormous financial obligations and red tape involved in clearing and forwarding. Consequently, it was suggested that the government enact marine rules that align with global best practices.
