Freight forwarding group under the auspices of the Association of Concerned Freight Forwarders and Transporters (ACFFT) has decried high haulage rates on cargoes exiting the ports, even as it threatens to embark on a strike in the 2nd week on January 2020.
Chairman of the group; Chief Andy Best Omenogor who said this in a chat with Shipping Position Daily after their meeting in Apapa last week, maintained that despite efforts of the federal government in repairing the roads, the traffic gridlock still persisted.
Omenogor however lamented high rate of extortion saying that they pay at least N100, 000 before they can be allowed to access the ports, even as he urged the government to intervene.
“Even when we find our way into the ports to drop our empty containers, they went and block that the truck must give them N100, 000 from each truck. The government is not doing anything about it because nobody is telling them anything; everybody just kept quiet and allow the thing to go”.
Explaining the high haulage rate, he said, “Can you imagine that as at today, we are paying N900, 000 to load a container from Apapa to Trade Fair and from Apapa to Agbara, that is not Maiduguri, we are paying N1.2milliom. And from Tin Can to Trade Fair, we pay N1.6million per truck, how can it be like that. How can the government allow such a thing to continue happening and the Police officers controlling traffic will say everything is working well? The roads have been fixed, what the problems with the roads are; there is n problem with the roads to Apapa”
Omenogor who failed to disclose the date of the planned strike due to the fear of the action being hijacked, nevertheless maintained that the group is embarking on a strike in January.
“We cannot fix a date for the strike, because we don’t want them to destabilize us. They will wake up and see the strike, but we know it is second week of January. Everybody is blaming the government but the right question should be, the people they put in the authorities are they actually doing the work? We are going to have inner caucus meeting during this Christmas period and when we come back and nothing is done, then we will commence the strike action”
“All the transporters, people who are doing businesses in the ports are all aggrieved. All other associations are even worried on the situation of the thing, they are all confused. The government spent a lot of money to repair the roads for us, but the people that are in charge of allowing the trucks to enter the ports will not allow the trucks to enter. So we have agreed that by second week of January when everybody is back, we are going to go on strike so that the government will know and ask questions”
The chairman accused officers of the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Ports Authority of blocking all the accesses routes through which the trucks can access the ports.
“Now the worst part of it is that the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have blocked all the means that they use to carry cargoes from the sea to APMT, they have blocked all the badges and our people cannot operate. And the government is not doing anything about it, they just kept quiet and it is a very disheartening situation that even the vessels that are supposed to come to Nigeria have gone to Lome. NIMASA can check and find out how many vessels they have in the ports and what is causing the problem. The government should call everybody to come to a round table. Let NPA, Police and other stakeholders tell us the reason why it cannot work”, he suggested.
Discussion about this post