Badagry Port Gets Fresh Push as APM Terminals Enters Talks on $2.5bn Project

Nigeria’s long-delayed $2.5 billion Badagry Deep-Sea Port project has received a fresh push after APM Terminals entered exclusive negotiations with the project developers over its potential development.

The agreement was signed on September 7 in Copenhagen during a Nigerian government delegation’s visit to Denmark, bringing one of the country’s most ambitious port projects back into focus more than four years after the Federal Government approved its concession.

APM Terminals, Badagry Port Development Limited (BPDL) and Quinn McGrath Marine and Environmental Services Limited signed the memorandum of understanding, which provides an exclusive framework for discussions on the proposed greenfield deep-sea port.

The agreement, however, does not mean construction has started or that APM Terminals has committed the full $2.5 billion estimated cost of the project.

It marks the beginning of a new round of negotiations that could eventually lead to construction if the parties reach a final agreement and secure the necessary financing.

APM Terminals, the port-operating arm of A.P. Moller–Maersk, already has a significant presence in Nigeria. It operates APM Terminals Apapa in Lagos and the West Africa Container Terminal in Onne, Rivers State.

Its potential involvement in Badagry would therefore expand an existing Nigerian port operation rather than represent the company’s first major investment in the country’s port sector.

A project more than a decade in the making

The Badagry port project is not new.

Plans for a deep-sea port in Badagry date back to 2010. Since then, the project has gone through several stages of planning and changes in its private-sector structure before receiving key government approvals.

In April 2022, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission issued the project’s Full Business Case Certificate. Four months later, on August 3, the Federal Executive Council approved the concession under a 45-year Build-Own-Operate-Transfer public-private partnership arrangement.

The project was estimated at $2.5 billion, with construction expected to take about five years once financing and other requirements were in place.

It was also projected to generate more than $53 billion in revenue over the concession period.

Those approvals, however, did not translate into immediate construction. The project remained stalled, leaving Badagry among Nigeria’s long-planned port developments yet to attract the investment needed to move into the construction phase.

The latest agreement with APM Terminals now gives the project a new commercial development.

If eventually completed, the Badagry port would significantly increase Nigeria’s deepwater cargo-handling capacity.

Project documents put its ultimate container-handling capacity at about 3.9 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) annually. The port is also planned to handle up to 24 million metric tonnes of cargo and approximately 1.4 million vehicles each year.

The first phase would centre on a container terminal with a capacity of about 1.2 million TEUs, supported by a 740-metre quay and an 18-metre design depth.

The proposed depth is particularly important because it would allow the port to accommodate larger vessels.

That could strengthen Nigeria’s position in international shipping and potentially reduce the need for some cargo to be handled through ports with shallower approaches or other physical constraints.

But the project is intended to be more than a container terminal.

Plans include a wider free-trade-zone development containing port, logistics and industrial facilities, alongside a power hub. The broader development is expected to cover more than 1,000 hectares.

Road, rail and barge connections are also part of the plans, reflecting the need to move cargo efficiently from the port to inland markets.

That wider transport network could ultimately determine how much of the port’s capacity translates into actual economic activity.

Badagry’s location could also give the project a role beyond Nigeria’s domestic market.

Situated close to Nigeria’s western border, the proposed port could serve Nigerian importers and exporters while also competing for cargo moving through the wider West African market.

Its developers have consequently positioned Badagry as a potential maritime hub for West and Central Africa, with transshipment expected to form part of its long-term business model.

Transshipment involves moving containers from one vessel to another at an intermediate port before they reach their final destination.

If Badagry can attract enough shipping lines and cargo, Nigeria could capture more of that regional traffic instead of having some cargo routed through competing ports in neighbouring countries.

The additional capacity could also help ease pressure on existing Nigerian ports, particularly Apapa and Tin Can, which have faced congestion and infrastructure constraints over the years.

The Copenhagen agreement was signed during a visit led by the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, as the Federal Government seeks to attract more private investment into maritime infrastructure.

The government has been promoting the blue economy as a source of investment, jobs and trade opportunities, while also pursuing improvements to existing ports.

For APM Terminals, the Badagry project could complement its current operations in Apapa and Onne.

The company has continued to invest in its Nigerian business, including at its Apapa terminal, where export volumes increased during the first half of 2026.

Still, the immediate significance of the Copenhagen agreement is not that Nigeria has gained a new operational port.

That distinction is important given the project’s history. Government approval has already been secured in the past, yet construction never followed as originally anticipated.

The latest MoU must therefore lead to further negotiations, a definitive development agreement and financing before construction can begin.

The $2.5 billion figure should also be understood in that context. It is the estimated cost of developing the proposed port, not an amount APM Terminals has already invested.

If the current negotiations produce a final agreement and the project reaches financial close, Badagry could eventually add one of the largest new port capacities to Nigeria’s maritime infrastructure.

For now, the September 7 agreement represents a renewed attempt to move the project beyond years of planning and government approvals and towards actual development, with a major international port operator now formally engaged in discussions over its future.