Sea Ports Expansion
Building The Gambia into the trade and logistics gateway of West Africa.
The Gambia's most underutilised strategic asset is not its land, its fishing waters, or its tourism potential. It is its position on the Atlantic coast of West Africa, with deep-water access and a geography that has always made it a natural gateway into the sub-region. The Port of Banjul, the country's only commercial seaport, handles a fraction of the trade that its location could justify. Container handling capacity is limited. Vessel berths are constrained in number and in the size of ship they can accommodate. Cargo dwell times are among the highest in the sub-region, imposing costs on importers that flow directly through to consumer prices. Customs processes are paper-intensive, slow, and susceptible to the informal payments that add cost and unpredictability to every trading transaction. Cold storage and specialist cargo handling facilities are insufficient for the agricultural export ambitions the NBP's economic programme will generate. A port that is consistently slower, more expensive, and more uncertain than alternatives drives trade away rather than attracting it. The strategic opportunity of transit trade, moving goods to and from the West African interior through Gambian infrastructure, is almost entirely unrealised. The National Builders Party will change all of that.
A Port of Banjul that handles world-class cargo volumes efficiently, reliably, and transparently. A new deep-water port facility that can accommodate the container vessels and bulk cargo ships that serve the largest trading economies in West Africa. A logistics corridor that moves goods from ship to warehouse to truck to destination faster than any comparable option in the sub-region. A transit hub through which goods flow to Senegal, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, and the West African interior with lower cost and faster clearance than any competing route. A port that generates employment, tax revenue, and economic activity that multiplies through the national economy. A country that builds world-class port infrastructure does not merely move more cargo. It repositions itself in the regional economy as the place through which commerce flows. That is The Gambia's port future. The National Builders Party will build it.
The NBP will restructure the Gambia Ports Authority into a modern, commercially oriented institution with a clear mandate, professional governance, and full financial transparency, free from the conflicts of interest that currently limit port efficiency and private investment.
The GPA will be restructured to separate its regulatory, landlord, and operational functions, retaining regulation and landlord roles while progressively opening terminal operations to private operators under concession agreements. A professional Board of Directors comprising maritime logistics experts, commercial managers, trade and industry representatives, and government officials will govern the GPA with a mandate to pursue commercial port development. Audited financial accounts will be published annually. A five-year Port Development Master Plan updated annually will set measurable targets for cargo volumes, vessel calls, dwell times, and revenue. A Port Performance Dashboard will publish monthly statistics on vessel arrivals, cargo handled, clearance times, and port revenue, giving the trade community and the public full visibility of how the port is performing against its targets.
The NBP will enact a Port Development Act providing the legal foundation for the GPA's expanded mandate, the concession framework for private terminal operators, and the investment protection that international port investors require as a condition of long-term capital commitment.
The Act will define the GPA's mandate, powers, accountability structure, and relationship with the Ministries of Transport and Finance. It will establish the legal framework for port concession agreements, giving international investors the contractual certainty they need to commit capital at scale. It will set the legal basis for the Port Economic Zone, covering land use rights, tax treatment, and governance. It will establish maritime safety and environmental standards for all port operations with enforcement powers. And it will define the conditions under which transit trade arrangements with neighbouring countries operate, giving shippers, logistics operators, and customs authorities the legal clarity they need to plan around Gambia as a transit route.
The NBP will invest in a comprehensive modernisation programme that brings the Port of Banjul to a competitive operational standard, beginning within the first year of government regardless of progress on new port development.
Container terminal upgrades will include modern ship-to-shore cranes with the reach and lifting capacity to handle the vessel sizes that call at West African ports, increased container yard stacking capacity, efficient yard movement equipment, refrigerated container plugging infrastructure to support temperature-sensitive cargo, and a fully integrated terminal management system replacing paper-based processes. General cargo and bulk facilities will be upgraded to handle fuel imports, grain, construction materials, break-bulk, roll-on roll-off, and project equipment more efficiently. A dedicated fish landing and processing quay will open the port to the Gambian fisheries export ambitions that the NBP's fishing industry modernisation programme will generate. A dedicated port access road will ensure port traffic does not pass through residential areas.
The NBP will develop a new deep-water port facility at a site selected through rigorous technical and environmental assessment, building the large-vessel capacity that the existing Port of Banjul cannot provide and that a regional gateway requires.
Two candidate sites will be assessed through comprehensive feasibility studies: the Barra coastline on the north bank of the River Gambia estuary, chosen for its geographic position, natural depth, distance from congested urban areas, and potential to serve as the northern terminus of a cross-estuary logistics corridor; and the Banjul southern waterfront, including the zone near the former Mile 2 Prison site, which offers proximity to existing maritime infrastructure and deep-water access. The feasibility study findings will be published in full and subject to public consultation before any site is confirmed. The new facility will be designed for deep-water berths capable of accommodating large modern cargo vessels, a substantial container terminal with expansion capacity, a bulk cargo terminal, comprehensive port services, and a Port Control Centre meeting international maritime security standards. Development will proceed in phases matched to demonstrated trade demand.
The NBP will make customs clearance at Banjul among the fastest and most transparent in West Africa, targeting clearance measured in hours rather than days through a national Single Window System and risk-based inspection reform.
A national Single Window System will allow all import and export declarations, permits, certificates, and customs payments to be submitted and processed through a single digital portal, eliminating the need for traders to interact with multiple agencies separately. Risk-based customs inspection will free the majority of low-risk cargo for rapid clearance without physical examination. A pre-arrival processing system will allow importers to submit documentation and receive customs decisions before a vessel arrives, enabling cargo to be cleared and released on the day of arrival. An electronic cargo tracking system will give importers, freight forwarders, and logistics operators real-time visibility of their cargo status at every stage. A Trusted Trader Programme will provide expedited processing for verified compliant importers and exporters. A published Service Level Agreement will commit the GRA to defined maximum customs clearance times.
The NBP will build The Gambia into a genuine transit trade hub for the West African interior, establishing the logistics infrastructure, bilateral agreements, and Inland Container Depot that turn geographic potential into commercial reality.
Transit trade arrangements with Senegal, and subsequently with Mali, Guinea-Bissau, and other ECOWAS partners, will be negotiated through bilateral agreements that provide legal clarity, defined customs procedures, and competitive transit fees for goods moving through Gambian infrastructure to and from the interior. A dedicated transit customs regime will provide streamlined procedures, bonded transit guarantees, and GPS-tracked convoys for goods in transit. An Inland Container Depot, located at a strategic point on the road network connecting the port to the interior, will extend port logistics functions inland, enabling container consolidation, customs examination, and cargo storage away from the congested port zone. River cargo terminals at strategic interior locations will enable goods to move by river between the coast and the interior, integrating river transport with the port logistics system.
The NBP will establish a Port Economic Zone adjacent to the new deep-water port facility, offering dedicated industrial and economic space that attracts manufacturers, distributors, and shipping companies to invest and operate in The Gambia.
The Port Economic Zone will provide serviced land for port-related industries: container repair and maintenance, logistics and freight forwarding companies, warehousing and distribution centres, light manufacturing for export, food processing and packaging, and maritime services businesses. Tax and investment incentives will be designed to make the zone genuinely competitive with comparable facilities in the sub-region without undermining the national tax base. A Port Economic Zone Authority will administer the zone, issue business licences, maintain infrastructure, and enforce environmental and labour standards. The zone will be physically integrated with the port, the road network, and where feasible the river logistics system, so that goods can move efficiently between mode of transport and processing facility without unnecessary delay or double handling.
The National Builders Party will establish a National Maritime Training Institute and invest in developing a Gambian maritime professional workforce so that the port expansion programme builds national capability, not just foreign-operated infrastructure.
The National Maritime Training Institute will provide training in vessel operations, port logistics, crane operation, customs and freight forwarding, maritime safety, and port management. Partnerships with international maritime training institutions and port operators will ensure that training meets the certifications recognised by international shipping lines and port operators. A Gambian Maritime Professionals Development Programme will support Gambians in establishing and growing professional service businesses in the port sector, including freight forwarding, ship agency, logistics consultancy, and stevedoring. A Port Workforce Development Programme will track employment of Gambians across port operations and related businesses, with annual reporting on the growth of national maritime employment as the port expansion programme delivers its economic multiplier through the national economy.
For Gambian Businesses and Traders
A container that clears customs in hours rather than days means lower financing costs on your inventory and faster delivery to your customers. A Single Window System means one portal, not five agencies. A Trusted Trader Programme means that if your business has a clean compliance record, you move to the front of the queue. Cold storage at the port means your agricultural exports do not spoil in customs. A more efficient port means lower import costs that flow through to the prices your customers pay. Port reform is trade reform, and trade reform is economic growth.
For Young Gambians
The National Maritime Training Institute will create professional pathways in vessel operations, port logistics, crane operation, customs and freight forwarding, and maritime safety management. The Port Economic Zone will generate employment in warehousing, distribution, light manufacturing, logistics, and business services. The port expansion programme, from the new berths to the access roads to the inland depot, will employ Gambians in construction, operations, and management. A world-class port is also a world-class employer, and the National Builders Party will ensure that Gambians are at the centre of it.
For Every Family
Port efficiency reduces the cost of everything that arrives in The Gambia by sea, which is most of what the country imports. Faster customs, lower dwell times, and competitive logistics costs translate into lower prices for food, fuel, construction materials, and consumer goods. A Gambia that earns transit trade revenue from goods moving through its infrastructure to the West African interior generates tax revenue that funds schools, hospitals, and public services. Port expansion is not an abstraction. It is the infrastructure beneath the prices you pay and the services your government can fund.
The New National Standard for Gambian ports is the standard that turns a country into a trading nation. A vessel that calls at Banjul receives services comparable to the best ports in the region. A container clears customs in hours, not days. A Gambian exporter can pack their goods, present them at the port, and ship them to a buyer in Europe or Asia with confidence that the logistics chain will work. Goods moving in transit through The Gambia to the West African interior move faster and cheaper through Gambia than through any competing corridor. The Port Economic Zone generates employment and investment that grows the national economy from the waterfront outward. Gambians are trained, employed, and building careers in maritime logistics, port management, and trade facilitation rather than watching foreign operators run infrastructure on their coastline. A country that controls its port controls its trade. The National Builders Party will build the ports that give The Gambia that control.
The Gambia sits on the Atlantic coast of West Africa. It has deep water access and a geography that makes it a natural gateway into the sub-region. That potential has waited long enough for a government willing to build the infrastructure to realise it. The National Builders Party will build those ports, modernise that customs system, and make The Gambia the place through which West African commerce flows.
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