Harper Port Has Room When Regional Rivals Are Overwhelmed. Liberia Wants to Capitalize

Published: April 15, 2026

HARPER, Maryland County — As congestion backs up at major ports across West Africa, Liberia’s National Port Authority is making a case that the underused Port of Harper could absorb what Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Ghana cannot handle, if the government moves quickly enough to make it viable.

Emmanuel M. Horton Sr., the NPA’s deputy managing director for operations, traveled to Harper recently to assess the southeastern port firsthand and returned with a direct message: the regional window is open, but Liberia is not yet ready to walk through it.

“Liberia has a real chance to step in and provide solutions where others are overwhelmed,” Horton said, describing shipping lines already under pressure to find more efficient entry points into the region.

The interest is real. Horton said discussions are underway to restart transshipment services at the Freeport of Monrovia, with initial plans involving hundreds of containers, which he described as an early signal of growing confidence in Liberia’s port potential. Harper, he argued, could extend that momentum further southeast.

But the port’s current condition tells a different story. Infrastructure constraints including a constricted pier, limited power supply and persistent operational inefficiencies continue to undercut Harper’s competitiveness at precisely the moment regional circumstances are creating an opening.

Port of Harper Managing Director Augustine Wakla Neufville II was frank about the challenges on the ground. Staffing shortages and declining revenue are straining the port’s capacity, he said, warning that without urgent intervention the facility will struggle to meet rising demand even before any expansion begins.

Horton said Public-Private Partnerships are the most realistic path to accelerating modernization, arguing that private investment can move faster than government budgets alone. He framed the Harper expansion not as a local infrastructure project but as a national economic play.

“This is not just about Harper,” he said. “It’s about creating opportunities for trade, increasing revenue, and strengthening Liberia’s role in regional commerce.”

The visit was part of a broader NPA initiative to evaluate port facilities across the country and identify investment priorities as Liberia attempts to transform its maritime sector from an underperforming asset into a driver of regional trade.