The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has confirmed that the 30 percent haulage rate reduction negotiated by the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) is still in force.
The rate reduction was agreed upon after the intervention of the Nigerian Shippers Council as one of the measures to cushion the effect of the Covid-19 lockdown.
The chairman Dry Cargo Section of NARTO, Alhaji Abdullahi Inuwa who confirmed this in a chat with Shipping Position Daily at Tin Can Island on Tuesday.
"It is still effective and above all, you know the demand and supply determines the rate. If the demand is high the rate will go up. Another issue that will make the price to go up is because there is no conducive environment for truckers.
He also confirmed that many cargo owners now use barges because of the ongoing road construction in the approach to Tin Can, even as he added that the demand and supply of trucks also determines the rate.
“They (cargo owners) are now using barges to pick their empty containers, but the barges are charging high at least N200, 000", he said.
He also raised alarm over imminent loss of job among truckers owing to decline in cargo traffic and consequent reduction in volume of cargo for trucks to carry
He maintained that the sector lost a lot during the Covid-19 lockdown adding that many drivers are also out of jobs.
"The effect is that a lot of people have been thrown out of business; even the drivers have lost their jobs, you know a lot of people depend on trucks. So you can see if the truck is not moving, a lot of persons will lose their work. So many of our members are out of work, because there is no cargo, especially during the time of lockdown", he lamented.
He explained that more than 20 persons depend on a single truck for survival.
"I don't have the statistics of the loss, but I know it has serious cost implications. You know in each truck up, to 20 people depend on that to feed their families. Once a truck moves, at least an average of 20 lives depend on that. And with the Covid-19 lockdown, a lot of things were affected; so many trucks can not travel outside the state, so the trucking industry was seriously affected", he stressed.
Discussion about this post