ISPS CODE IMPLEMENTATION AND OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY OF SEAPORTS IN EASTERN NIGERIA

This study examines the relationship between ISPS code implementation and operational efficiency of Eastern Nigeria seaports The specific objectives are to empirically examine the relationship between ISPS code implementation and operational efficiency in terms of cargo dwell time, stakeholder satisfaction and operational cost of seaports in Eastern Nigeria. The study adopted the cross- sectional survey as its research design. The study population consists of - four (4) seaports operating in Nigeria. The study took a census. Thirty (30) respondents were drawn from each of the seaport making a total of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents to whom copies of structured questionnaires were administered. However, one hundred and fourteen (114) respondents were retrieved and used for analysis. The hypotheses were tested using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation with the aid of statistical packages of social science (SPSS) version 27.0. The study’s findings revealed that there is a very strong, positive and statistically significant relationship between ISPS code implementation and operational efficiency of seaports in Eastern Nigeria. The study concludes that ISPS code implementation significantly relates to operational efficiency of seaports in Eastern Nigeria; and it is recommended that, port administrators in Eastern Nigeria should continually evaluate and gauge outcomes of implementation to the code in order to improve operational efficiency of the seaports.