ABSTRACT:

This research analysed the competitiveness of selected ports in West Africa Coast region with respect to vessel traffic, cargo throughput, and container traffic. Data on vessel traffic, cargo throughout, and container traffic (criteria) were collected and analysed for selected ports (alternatives) using Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP). Apapa port (26.36%), is the most competitive port among the selected ports. It is 1.21 times more competitive than Tema port (21.41%), 1.48 times more competitive than the Tin-Can Island port (17.85%), 2.05 times better more competitive than Cotonou port (12.86%), 2.10 times better than Lome port (12.56%) and 2.94 times more competitive than Takoradi port (8.96%). The order of overall port competitiveness is Takoradi < Lome < Cotonou < Tin-Can < Tema < Apapa.  Although Apapa port in Nigeria was the overall best, indices such as port services, port dues, cost of export and import, time taken to import and export, as well as documentation bureaucracy suggest the need for improvement in order to reduce the increasing preference for neighbouring ports by Nigerian business men/women. The ports’ hinterland should be enlarged by extending the major corridors to the land-locked nations in the region, to enable Nigeria compete effectively with the neighbouring ports that are already controlling the traffic in those nations.