Oluyinka Onigbinde
Amid hike in the cost of diesel, truck owners operating in the nation’s maritime industry have lamented government’s neglect and disregard for haulage operators who are responsible for the movement of a higher percentage of cargoes across the country.
The truck owners lamented that fair treatment should also be given to the maritime sector as is being given to the aviation sector, they noted that the Federal Government is constantly in dialogue with the aviation industry over the hike in aviation fuel, but has however failed to engage truck owners over the soaring cost of diesel since the price skyrocketed.
The truck owners noted that many of their members can no longer make ends meet describing the situation as critical while threatening that they may be forced to increase haulage rates soon.
In a chat with our correspondent the President of the Council of Maritime Truck Unions and Associations (COMTUA), Com. Adeyinka Aroyewun noted that the cost of running haulage business has tripled.
He said: “Another problem is the hike in price of diesel, we go home with nothing, we need the intervention of the government to assist our business, because even the aviation industry is clamouring and the government is engaging them on the way forward, I think we need the same kind of treatment, we need to be engaged to survive this hard time
“We’ve been crippled, we don’t even have the capacity to increase prices, the job is not even there, all our businesses have been hijacked by the foreigners who now use other mediums of conveying cargo. We are running out of business every day” he lamented.
In the same vein, Chief Remi Ogungbemi the Chairman Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) decried government neglect stating that many of the truck owners are enduring and working just to put bread on the table, he noted that increment in cost of moving haulage is long overdue, adding that the truck owners could be force to increase their charges.
“I am surprised that you singled out diesel out of all the components that we used to run truck, I must tell you that all the components have increased outrageously, even the road that we are supposed to be moving freely on, we can no longer move freely on the road. So, all these are adding to the cost of doing business, I can tell you that no truck owner is breaking even as of now, truckers are just working so that they can have bread on the table, they don’t even have enough to maintain the truck,
“The increment is long overdue, but in every business, demand determines the price, but when the demand is low, how can you make an increase, so demand determine the increase, nevertheless we are working to see how we can make our people understand how we can have a standard rate so that we won’t just be working at a loss, he said.
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Speaking on the impact of the hike of diesel on the economy, the Chief Executive Officer, Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) and former Director-General of the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Dr. Muda Yussuf stated that the impact situation will further compound the poverty situation in the country.
He said the increase in haulage cost will reflect on prices as the consumers will be forced to pay
“The impact is very obvious; that means that the cost of transportation, the cost of logistics will also skyrocket and we know that one of the major challenges we have been contending with in the economy is the high cost of transportation caused by the state of the road. Secondly by the cost of energy, which is the cost of diesel and because almost 90% of our freight is by road the impact will be very profound and this ultimately will reflect on prices because ultimately most of these prices will be transferred to the consumers and already the consumers are already groaning about inflation, so this situation will further compound the poverty situation in the country”, he said.
On his part, Dr. Obiora Madu, the Director-General of African Centre for Supply Chain and CEO of Multimix Group and President of Association of Outsourcing Professionals (AOPN) bemoaned the attitude of the government to the country logistics infrastructure, he stated that the terrible state of the logistic chain in the country is responsible for the high cost of doing business.
“A nation that fails to pay attention to its logistics will face its consequences, and that is where we are now, for a very long time logistics infrastructure (the few we had) has been dilapidated; the world is going about integrated logistics where all modes of transportation are integrated, you have the inland waterways, are we using it, we have how many ports, are we using all the ports, practically rail if not of recent how much of it have we used. So the point is that it is when this whole thing is working efficiently independently and collectively.
“It is terrible logistics that we have in the country, that is responsible for the high cost of doing business”, he said.
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