Conference Paper

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND PORT OPERATIONS: A PANACEA TO NIGERIAN PORT DECONGESTION.

The unending problem of port congestion in Nigeria has seriously reduced the effectiveness of trade, increased operating expenses, and resulted in longer cargo dwell periods. This study sort to examine the effect of digital transformation on the Nigerian ports’ operation as a way out to the continuous congestion. Other specific objectives of the study were to determine the effects of automation of port operations (APO), adoption of blockchain technology for trade documentation (BTTD) and implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) and smart port systems on the Nigerian ports operation. A descriptive research design was adopted and close-ended questionnaires was used to collect data from 127 management-level employees of four port operating companies in Lagos Nigeria, through a purposive random sampling technique. The data was analyzed using a multiple regression method and the findings revealed that APO and BTTD have a positive correlation with ports operation (0.001, 0.000), while IoT has a not statistically significant with a p-value of (1.07). The study further concluded that the adoption of digital transformation will go a long way to decongest the ports and its environment as well as aid a complete overhauling and simplification of ports activities.