By: Julius Konton
Liberia’s National Port Authority has established a Strategic Technical Committee to investigate and address growing delays affecting cargo movement through the Freeport of Monrovia, with particular attention to goods imported from China as businesses prepare for the final and traditionally busiest trading period of the year.
The committee, headed by Mohammed Calico Lavalie, was announced by NPA Managing Director Sekou A. M. Dukuly during a high-level stakeholders’ meeting at the Authority’s headquarters in Monrovia.
The meeting brought together the Consortium of Liberian Importers from China, the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, the Liberia Revenue Authority, the Truckers Union of Liberia, APM Terminals Liberia, the Customs Brokers Association, shipping lines and NPA management.
Dukuly described the Freeport of Monrovia as the “heartbeat” of Liberia’s economy, underscoring the importance of keeping the country’s principal maritime gateway operationally efficient as congestion threatens to increase costs and disrupt the movement of imported goods.
The Freeport is particularly important to Liberia’s external trade. A World Trade Organization review of Liberia’s trading system found that the port handled approximately 90% of the country’s merchandise trade, highlighting the potential economy-wide impact of prolonged disruptions at the facility.
According to the NPA, container dwell times have risen beyond acceptable operational thresholds, while yard occupancy has approached levels that constrain flexibility and truck turnaround times have lengthened.
“Container dwell time has risen beyond acceptable thresholds. Yard occupancy is approaching levels that reduce operational flexibility, and truck turnaround times are lengthening,” Dukuly said.
He added that documentation and cargo-release delays were contributing to higher storage and demurrage charges.
“These costs do not end at the port. They travel to the importer, and they finish their journey in the pocket of the Liberian consumer,” he said.
The issue is particularly significant for import-dependent businesses, whose costs can rise when containers remain inside terminal yards longer than anticipated.
Such costs may eventually be reflected in the prices of imported food, household goods, construction materials, machinery and other commodities.
The NPA’s intervention comes as Liberia approaches the Christmas and end-of-year trading season, when import volumes and commercial activity traditionally increase.
Dukuly said the Authority had already intensified regulatory oversight of terminal performance and was working with APM Terminals on yard planning, equipment availability and the evacuation of empty and overstayed containers.
The NPA is also working with Customs to reduce unnecessary duplication in inspections, expand risk-based cargo processing and increase documentation completed before vessels arrive.
Traffic management at the port gates and access corridors is also being strengthened, while discussions with truckers and customs brokers are focusing on scheduling, documentation compliance and faster cargo evacuation.
The NPA says it wants the new technical committee to move beyond identifying individual problems and instead examine the entire cargo chain from vessel arrival and berth operations to customs clearance, terminal handling, trucking and final evacuation.
Dukuly outlined three immediate objectives: establishing a shared diagnosis of bottlenecks across the cargo chain; introducing measurable interventions with designated responsibilities and deadlines; and creating a joint monitoring mechanism to track performance indicators.
Among the measures under consideration are a truck appointment system and extended cargo-clearance hours, aimed at improving the flow of trucks and reducing pressure on terminal yards.
“The management of the NPA is ready to lead, ready to listen, and ready to act,” Dukuly told stakeholders.
APM Terminals Liberia, the private terminal operator at the Freeport, welcomed the multi-stakeholder approach and reported improvements in cargo handling, saying more than 800 containers were being discharged within 24 hours, according to the stakeholders’ meeting.
The company also emphasized a central challenge facing the terminal: limited yard space becomes increasingly constrained when containers remain beyond their intended free period.
Under normal arrangements, consignees receive a five-day free period before storage charges apply.
However, stakeholders said the period had effectively been extended to as much as 14 days in response to clearance delays, putting additional pressure on available yard capacity.
The terminal operator’s position is that a seaport is fundamentally designed to facilitate the movement of cargo rather than function as a long-term storage facility.
APM Terminals has operated at the Freeport of Monrovia since February 2011.
The company says its terminal has an annual capacity of approximately 200,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and underwent a US$125 million upgrade completed in 2017.
The facility includes a paved container yard, refrigerated-container infrastructure, security systems and other cargo-handling facilities.
Pressure Builds Ahead of Christmas
Representatives of shipping lines warned that the situation could become more difficult as the final quarter of the year gets underway.
The President of the Shipping Lines of Liberia told participants that the second quarter of import activity had already closed and that the Christmas trading season was approaching.
He warned that prolonged congestion could impose significant financial losses on importers and businesses dependent on timely delivery of merchandise.
He also raised concerns about vessels reportedly waiting in Abidjan because of congestion affecting cargo operations in Monrovia.
Such claims would require independent verification, but the warning reflects the wider concern among shipping and trading stakeholders that delays at Liberia’s principal gateway can have consequences beyond the terminal itself.
For importers bringing goods from China, the issue is particularly sensitive because cargo typically travels through lengthy international supply chains before reaching Liberia.
Delays at the destination port can therefore compound costs that have already accumulated through freight, insurance, handling, customs and inland transportation.
The importance of the Freeport of Monrovia is rooted in both its history and its geography.
The modern artificial harbor was developed during World War II by the United States military to support strategic shipping and the movement of rubber and other wartime materials. The harbor was opened in 1948, with two major breakwaters creating a protected basin.
The National Port Authority was subsequently established by an Act of the Liberian Legislature in 1967, with the legislation amended in 1970 to strengthen its mandate as the state-owned institution responsible for managing, planning and developing Liberia’s public ports.
Today, the NPA oversees four principal ports: Monrovia, Buchanan, Greenville and Harper.
The Freeport remains by far the largest facility in the NPA network.
Its protected harbor covers about 300 hectares, while its main marginal wharf extends approximately 600 metres and can accommodate three to four vessels depending on vessel size.
Historical data also demonstrate the port’s long-standing role in Liberia’s economy. NPA records show that its ports handled 7.45 million metric tons of cargo and 76,075 TEUs in 2014, with total throughput rising 13% from the previous year.
More recent Central Bank data underline continued maritime activity. In the third quarter of 2024, 124 vessels called at Liberia’s ports, carrying a combined summer deadweight of about 3.7 million tons.
Monrovia accounted for 61.3% of vessel activity, while total cargo movement across the country’s ports during the quarter was approximately 1.81 million metric tons.
The challenge now facing the NPA and its partners is turning the newly announced technical process into measurable improvements for businesses and consumers.
The proposed committee is expected to examine the entire logistics chain and establish clear performance indicators covering vessel operations, container discharge, customs processing, documentation, yard occupancy, truck turnaround and cargo evacuation.
For Liberia’s trading community, the most important test will ultimately be practical: whether containers can be cleared and moved out of the port faster, whether trucks can access the terminal more predictably, and whether importers can avoid escalating storage and demurrage charges.
With the Christmas trading season approaching, pressure is likely to remain high on all institutions involved in Liberia’s maritime supply chain.
The NPA’s message is that solving the problem will require more than one institution acting alone.
Port authorities, terminal operators, customs officials, shipping lines, brokers, truckers and importers will have to coordinate their operations if the Freeport of Monrovia is to maintain its role as Liberia’s principal gateway for international commerce.
For a country whose main port handles the overwhelming majority of merchandise trade, the stakes extend well beyond the waterfront.
The efficiency of cargo movement through Monrovia ultimately affects the cost, availability and timely delivery of goods across the Liberian economy.
