Industrial Engineering Assessment of Port Operations at a Major Seaport in Lagos State

This research applies industrial engineering assessment methodology to evaluate and improve operational performance at a container terminal within a major seaport in Lagos State, South West Nigeria. Nigerian seaport operations have been extensively documented as a source of inefficiency and cost escalation in the country's import and export supply chains, with vessel turnaround times and container dwell times among the most frequently cited performance concerns. This study employs a process performance assessment framework measuring seven key operational indicators: vessel waiting time, vessel berth occupancy, gross crane productivity, net crane productivity, container dwell time, gate transaction time, and yard utilisation rate. Data were extracted from the terminal's operating system records covering twelve months of operational performance and supplemented by structured interviews with terminal operations management. Benchmarking is conducted against comparable West African container terminals. Results show gross crane productivity and container dwell time as the most significantly underperforming indicators, with crane productivity at sixty-three percent of the benchmark and dwell times averaging sixteen days against a regional benchmark of five to seven days. Root cause analysis identifies equipment maintenance downtime and import documentation delays as the principal drivers. Recommendations focus on predictive crane maintenance scheduling and advocacy for streamlined customs documentation processing. Keywords: port operations, container terminal, crane productivity, dwell time, Lagos State