<p>This paper revisits the relationship between trade openness and economic growth in Africa by focusing on the role of seaport efficiency in this relationship. We used 29 countries in Africa with seaports spanning the period from 2006 to 2020, and the system generalized method of moments estimation method was utilized for the regression analysis. The findings show that seaport efficiency and trade openness (trade share and export share) directly improve economic growth, while trade openness (imports share) deteriorates economic growth in Africa. The article further finds that seaport efficiency matters in improving the relationship between trade openness and economic growth in Africa. Following these outcomes, the paper proposes that policymakers in Africa intensify their efforts towards improving the efficiency of African seaports to ensure full economic growth benefits of trade openness.</p>