Ports & Terminal Multiservices Ltd — a subsidiary of the Grimaldi Group of Naples — operates the largest multipurpose RoRo terminal in West Africa, together with the largest waterfront off-dock bonded terminal facilities in Nigeria at Mile 2.
Ports & Terminal Multiservices Ltd (PTML) is a Nigerian company and a subsidiary of the Grimaldi Group of Naples, a fully integrated multinational logistics group established in 1947, owner of a fleet of more than 130 vessels and the world’s leading operator in the maritime transport of rolling freight.
PTML operates the largest multipurpose RoRo terminal in West Africa, located at the western end of the Tin Can Island Port Complex in Lagos, together with the largest waterfront off-dock bonded terminal facilities in Nigeria at Mile 2. Across both locations the company controls approximately 480,000 square metres of paved, secured terminal area.
The terminal serves as the principal West African hub of the Grimaldi network, receiving scheduled services from Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Americas and the Far East, and is open to general cargo and break bulk vessels of all operators. Beyond port handling, PTML provides bonded storage, barge transfer, customs examination facilities and electronic cargo release, supported by a dedicated, resident command of the Nigeria Customs Service.
PTML directly employs more than 1,000 staff, with a further 3,000 personnel engaged in support services. The terminal is widely regarded as a strategic national asset and is referenced in national development planning as a benchmark for successful public-private partnership in Nigerian infrastructure.
The Grimaldi Group has served Nigeria since the 1970s — more than fifty years of uninterrupted service to the country’s trade — and has operated through its own shipping agency, Grimaldi Agency Nigeria, since the 1990s. In 2005, the Group entered into a landmark agreement with the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Nigerian Ports Authority to develop a new terminal at Tin Can Island Port on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis — the first concession of its kind in Nigeria’s maritime sector.
Under the BOT agreement, Grimaldi assumed full responsibility for financing and constructing the terminal infrastructure, operating it for the duration of a long-term concession, and remitting royalties to the Nigerian Ports Authority throughout. The first phase — a 220-metre berth and the paving and development of over 220,000 square metres of terminal area — was completed in just sixteen months and commissioned in August 2006, with full operations commencing in 2008.
The terminal has been in continuous expansion since. Berth 12 was added under the same concession framework, and Berth 11 has been extended twice — with extensions commissioned in 2014 and 2021 — to reach its current 335 metres. PTML’s off-dock operation at Mile 2 has been enlarged repeatedly to exceed 250,000 square metres, the largest waterfront bonded off-dock facility in Nigeria, including a 50,000 square metre area allocated by the Lagos State Government in 2020 under a long-term title, which extended the facility to stretch from the Apapa–Oshodi Expressway to the Badagry Expressway. A further expansion programme now in development will add over 100 metres of berthing length at Tin Can Island, preparing the terminal to receive the next generation of Grimaldi G6 vessels.
Twenty years on, PTML stands as the reference case for private investment in Nigerian port infrastructure: a terminal conceived, financed and delivered by the private sector, generating sustained returns for the Federation through royalties, customs revenue and trade growth.
Lagos traffic congestion is a significant challenge for logistics operators. Standard truck convoys waiting outside port gates release heavy CO2 emissions.
To mitigate this, PTML introduced a green barge connection. Instead of moving containers via congested roads, we transfer cargo to our Mile 2 Off-Dock terminal via inland waterways, reducing carbon emissions by 82% per container unit.
Cargo entrusted to PTML is held within one of the most tightly controlled port environments in West Africa. The terminal is fully compliant with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code and operates a layered security model combining physical infrastructure, technology and personnel.
Access to the terminal is possible only through 21 heavy-duty security turnstiles fitted with biometric access control. Every stakeholder — staff, agents, drivers, regulators — is biometrically registered, and every transaction within the terminal is recorded. The facility is monitored 24 hours a day by a network of over 200 CCTV cameras and protected by a dedicated force of more than 500 security officers.
The same discipline applies to cargo. Every unit is traceable from discharge to gate; releases are electronic, integrated with the Nigeria Customs Service, and auditable end-to-end. The combination of dedicated gates, biometric registration and full transaction logging is the reason manufacturers and carriers select PTML for high-value vehicle and transhipment programmes.
PTML operates structured health, safety and environmental management across all terminal activities, with mandatory induction for all personnel and contractors working on site.
PTML is the only port terminal in Lagos with its own dedicated, resident command of the Nigeria Customs Service. The PTML Customs Command operates from offices inside the terminal, which means examinations are scheduled on-site, queries are resolved with the command leadership directly, and clearance does not depend on processes outside the gate.
The results are public record. The PTML Command collected ₦362.5 billion in 2024 and over ₦420 billion in 2025 — among the highest revenue yields per unit of cargo of any customs command in Nigeria. The command was also selected as the national pilot for the Nigeria Customs Service’s Unified Customs Management System (B’Odogwu), the digital clearance platform first deployed at PTML in October 2024 and now operating with stakeholder utilisation above 90%.
PTML’s role in trade facilitation is internationally recognised: the terminal holds the World Customs Organization Merit Award, conferred on PTML as an Outstanding Terminal Operator for exceptional support to the international customs community, and in 2026 the company delivered a new, fully equipped ICT office complex to the Nigeria Customs Service within the terminal.
PTML’s own electronic release process is fully integrated with Customs systems: invoicing, payment, examination booking and release are handled online, with physical document handling reduced to the minimum the law requires.
Reach out to our administrative, billing, or shipping teams. Drop by our main harbor office inside the Tin Can Port.