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By Steve Agbota
As Nigeria prepares to implement the National Single Window (NSW) at its ports this year, stakeholders say the success of the reform will depend largely on the efficiency of intermodal transport integration across the maritime value chain. Without a seamless link between road, rail and inland waterways, experts warn that faster cargo clearance may not translate into quicker cargo evacuation.
Industry players believe the NSW will significantly reduce bureaucratic delays, improve transparency and accelerate cargo processing, leading to higher cargo throughput and faster vessel turnaround times, particularly at the Lagos ports. However, they caution that increased efficiency at the documentation and clearance stage could overwhelm already strained transport infrastructure if intermodal systems are not upgraded in tandem.
Intermodal transportation involves the movement of goods in a single, sealed container using multiple modes of transport, such as trucks, trains, ships, and barges—without handling the cargo during transfers. When properly integrated, it enhances efficiency, security, and cost-effectiveness within the supply chain.
In Nigeria, this integration remains weak. Most ports lack functional rail connectivity, limiting the ability to move large cargo volumes inland efficiently. Inland waterways, which could ease pressure on congested roads through barge operations, remain largely underutilised due to infrastructure gaps and operational constraints.
As the NSW promises to unlock faster port operations, stakeholders argue that urgent investment in rail links, inland waterways, and coordinated logistics planning is critical. Without this, the anticipated gains of the reform risk being undermined by persistent bottlenecks beyond the port gates.
This results in congestion in the ports and puts pressure on the major roads linking to the seaports across the country. For instance, the dilapidated nature of major roads linking seaports across the country has continued to cause setbacks for trade facilitation, thereby hindering the much-anticipated economic growth.
Stakeholders who spoke to Daily Sun said that for years, there has been tremendous pressure on Nigerian roads because the road system is the major means of transport that connects the nooks and crannies of the country. The rail system became moribund until a few years ago, when the government began to revive it at a slow pace, providing obsolete infrastructure and still maintaining narrow gauge in most areas in the country.
Transportation via the waters is grossly underutilised, but if well-developed, it could connect cities like Calabar, Port Harcourt, Yenagoa, Lagos, Warri, Sapele and all the other littoral towns and cities in the country.
To run efficient single window, experts suggested Nigeria must intergrade its different transport means to effectively drive the economy and find other means of evacuating cargo from the ports, which is through rail, inland waterways and it will play a crucial role in decongesting Lagos ports and other ports in the country, reducing road traffic, and cutting costs by shifting cargo from heavily congested roads to rail and waterways.
Meanwhile, the Head of Research, Sea Empowerment and Research Centre (SEREC), Eugene Nweke, said that despite policy recognition, intermodal transport integration remained weak in the country.
He explained that at the nation’s ports, rail evacuation accounted for less than 5 per cent of total port cargo movement in 2025, adding that inland waterways and pipeline logistics remain largely underdeveloped for cargo evacuation.
Without functional intermodal connectivity, he said Nigerian ports will continue to face higher logistics costs, congestion risks and limited regional dominance.
In his remarks, Leke Oyewole, a seasoned maritime security expert and former Senior Special Assistant on Maritime Services to ex-President Goodluck, said that the Nigerian ports have to be fully connected to rail, water and other means of intermodal logistics.
“When we’re talking about intermodal means of transportation of goods from the port, we must have the rail connected. We must also use the inland waterways as much as possible to complement whatever the trucks are taking from the port. And the situation might even be worse this year with the advent of the NRS. NRS and the single window system will facilitate easy clearance of goods. So, once that is done, the goods are cleared, they must be evacuated,” he added.
He said that congestion will now happen afresh because there will be more clearing, more vessels will come and the turnaround time of the vessels must be improved.
“So, we must then begin to see how cargoes from Lagos can get as far as Lokoja, for example, so that the ones going to the north can create a port at Baro or somewhere in Kogi state here. We must create a port there where cargoes destined for the north can be cleared.
“And the movement of those cargoes from the port should be in blocks, so that they use low-bed barges to try to move them from the port all the way to Lokoja. In that case, the northerners who have cargoes in the port will not have to travel all the way down to Port Harcourt, Warri, or Lagos; they can clear from,” he explained.
He said that will reduce incidents of carnage on the road, while the rails can take from there and also service the inland ports that governments already created before now, and these are all ways of facilitating the movement of those cargoes.
“But the most important one has to do with that rail and enabling some low-bed badges, to get as far inland as possible, maybe to Lokoja for the northern cargoes and to some other parts of the country, the whole Onitsha and all that are also possible, he said.
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Also commenting, the Chief Executive Officer of Wealthy Honey Investment, Dr Kayode Farinto, said: “I said, there ought to have been a stakeholders’ meeting where we would advise the government on the feedback mechanism. Everybody is just shouting, single window, single window. What is the legal backing for the so-called single window? Anyone can wake up tomorrow and take the government to court, and before you know it, it is trashed into the dustbin. I’m not saying that.
“And besides that, there are too many laws in the industry that regulate these stakeholders. It has not been looked into. And there should be a law that will subsume all these mini laws, laws for this, even CEMA Customs law and what-are-view that will make single window a legal treat to bite. That’s by the wayside,” he said.
He said the single window initiative will definitely assist the nation’s intermodal transport system and eliminate delays, if well implemented.
“Even at that, the various modes of operation need to be reviewed. Our water transport, where are the laws? This needs to be reviewed. The badging operators or badging operations are not coming to Lagos again because of too many taxes. They must be looked into. Lagos state wants to slam them with tax, and the Nigerian Port Authority want to slam them with tax.
“That’s what I’m talking about, a holistic approach to achieving this. So, if we have, if we’ll maybe assist our intermodal system, if we look at the legalistic aspect of it, and we look at the legal framework of whether single window and multimodal transport system. Do we have any laws on intermodal transport systems? The answer is no for now, because we need a single law that will encompass the water transport, rail transport, and road transport, and that will bring them together in a kind of synergy.
“These are the things that must be put into place and practised. So, also, the various CEOs must be up and doing. Not bringing in somebody who does not even have the knowledge of these things that you’re putting in place. So, in that area, if anybody is, I’m not enthusiastic that it will assist our intermodal transport system. I don’t want to believe so. I just want to believe that if a single window is implemented and there’s a legal framework for it, it may, not necessarily will. It may increase or improve our intermodal transport. The government itself need a political way to improve our multimodal transport system. If that is not in place, then how can you achieve it? What have you put in place? I just came from Belgium, and I saw what is happening, talking about water transport. I see what they are doing about the rail system. Do we have that in place? We don’t even have it.
“Talk about rail. We have two classes of rail. We have that for human rail. We have that for cargo rail. Which of the rail acts are we even implementing? So, the government must be up and doing, and that is the responsibility of the Minister of the Blue Economy.
And I keep shouting, there are various directors that can look at this area, and most of these old and archaic laws need to be revisited, and it should be fine-tuned in line with international best practice. This is a new year. Let’s see how it goes. Wish the government all the best,” he said.
The National President of the African Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON), Frank Ogunojemite, highlighted the importance of efficient intermodal transportation to Nigeria’s economy.
According to him, intermodal transport is key to reducing port congestion, lowering logistics costs, and improving trade competitiveness. To achieve this, he said, government policies must be better coordinated to eliminate multiple checks and delays that hinder smooth cargo movement across seaports, roads, rail, and inland waterways.
“Nigeria’s ports must also be properly connected to rail lines, inland container depots, and barge operations. Strong port–rail–road connectivity will decongest our ports and improve cargo evacuation to the hinterland. Digital integration and transparency across all transport modes are equally important. Automation will reduce human interference, improve predictability, and enhance efficiency for freight forwarders and traders,” he said.
He emphasised that empowering freight forwarders, encouraging private sector participation, and ensuring secure transport corridors will strengthen intermodal operations nationwide.
He added that APFFLON remains committed to partnering with government and stakeholders to build an efficient, cost-effective intermodal transport system that supports national economic growth
Meanwhile, the President of the Barge Operators Association of Nigeria (BOAN), Olubunmi Olumekun said: “I think it’s what we’ve been trying to discuss for so long, is these are the problems we are trying to face. You know, when you are facing a problem, and the problem is not solved, you should always come back and bounce back to what you will achieve. And that is now, that is why you can see that the transportation, the water transportation, is really declining, is dropping, is dropping in terms of the cost, and you know, you have alternatives, if the cost implication is too much. People would prefer to go where it’s cheaper.
“You cannot be, you cannot be taking a container, let’s say one by 40 foot of container moving from here to Oshodi or Ikeja, paying N250,000 or N300,000, compared to somebody who will go on barge, take the same amount, or you are still going to subject to another transportation that will pick you, that will load you up from the jetty to your final destination, where you are going to, whether the warehouse or the factory. So we are talking about N600,000. So you prefer to go for N300,000. That’s what we are seeing,” he said.
He said the road transportation has come down, while the players, like the shipping companies and terminal operators, are thinking that it’s still business as usual.
“That it’s still business as usual, the amount I’m collecting, instead of them sitting down with the regulators and seeing how we can bring this thing down so that people can patronise more on the water than the roads. Whether we like it or not, the Nigerian economy is growing. So we need to open every place and every corridor that we know is good, which is going to make our business faster and cheaper.
“So, nobody wants to invest in a barge that is not going to be profitable. Nobody wants to invest millions of dollars in barges or about $3,000 on seagoing barges that can move from Lekki to Apapa or to Ikorodu; we are talking about billions of Naira. How many people can afford these billions of Naira? So how many banks can afford to give that kind of money to their clients? All these things, we said no. But the government has a very big role to play. Until the government comes back and says that, okay, we need to be seen, we want to be serious on this. We need the water business to move our goods,” he added.
He said that in America, 50 per cent of cargo is being evacuated through the water. 60% of their cargo is in America, saying that they have about 60,000 tons of cargo every day moved by water.
“But here in Nigeria, we are trying, it’s not like it this before. We know it’s dead before, but we’re trying to wake it up by saying, okay, let us see how we can bring ourselves together. I can see our people are tired. I want to see all of them going back, running out of the business, because they cannot invest in what is not profitable anymore,” he said.
