As the year is gradually running to an end, how can appraise the maritime industry vis-a-vis the transport sector?
Well, since the general elections, a new government just came into place and there are a lot of policies like the transition from the previous government to a new government. And then of course, you know, there will be a little bit of distortion including policy changes that will affect the sector and the maritime industry at large. Before now, there were some not-too-palatable developments in the sector, because the sector is conducting connectivity between maritime and road through importation of cargo and then the distribution chain is done through trucking. There are issues of bad roads, insecurity, infrastructure decay, and a lot of policy issues. Looking at it from the sector of the road, you know in Lagos, the traffic on the road and stuffs like that have impeded the transport sector as it relates to the maritime sector. But beyond that, we now see that the government has lifted the ban on so many items, which means there’s going to be more importation. I see the transport sector booming especially through the importation of rice, fertilizer and other related cargo. So I see massive importation will commence in the next few months from now, which means there will be a boom in the transportation business. Again, that’s not to say that the sector will remain without challenges. There are the challenges of insecurity, bad roads and others; which may also affect the distribution of this cargo. Also multiplicity of extortion on the road is one thing that has bedevilled the industry and the transport sector has not been able to grow because of these.
What are the major challenges faced by truckers?
A truck from Lagos to Kano will sometimes meet about 30 to 40 checkpoints during its journey and your income is depleted. The roads are bad, there’s no way you make a trip from here to Kano and one tyre will not go, and you know the price of a tyre vis-à-vis the exchange rate now. So once this hits any of these components or one of these challenges, is enough to make everything in your profit margin to be eroded. So the transport sector is one sector that government needs to pay attention to because it is responsible for the distribution until it gets to the last consumer. The road is responsible for movement and passengers’ usage is about 80 to 90 percent when you compare to the inland waterways or aviation, and yet these regulatory bodies are not doing anything about it. We (road transporters) make up a percentage of passengers that should have the regulatory bodies’ voice. There has to be a form of regulation. It’s not supposed to be an all-comers affair, but land transportation is an all-comers affair.
One of the major challenges we have been facing on the port corridor is this gridlock, where trucks park on the road. And how can you assess the electronic call-up system, which was created to check the menace?
This electronic call-up system does not work. If it does work, we would not be having these gridlocks. Again, you see, before it works, there are a lot of variables that have to be put in place. Apapa is one area where you have close to more than 60 tank farms. Dangote and BUA is there also and the ports also generate cargo. Over years, there has been an expansion in cargo throughput. Yet the infrastructure in terms of road has remained the same. There is no proportionate expansion in infrastructure to accommodate the expansion in cargo throughput. Also, those tankers that are parking on the road, those roads and bridges you see are not meant for vehicles to be static. They are meant for vehicles in transit. Yet you see these tankers parking there. So it’s danger looming.
Despite several orders by the government, it seems as if these tankers have vowed not to leave the road, why do you think this is so?
Why are these tankers coming in the first instance? In the country, I’m aware that we have many oil depots in the country of about 29 or 19 as the case may be. We have depots only if these depots are functional and the only way they can be functional is through the pumping of petroleum product through the pipeline to all these depots. These trucks have no reason to be in Lagos. They will go to the closer depot, load from there, and they move and distribute to the hinterland. But because the pipelines have been vandalized, the vandalization has made the depots not to be useful, so these trucks will have to continue coming here. And again, there used to be a law in place that if you have to build a tank farm, you must have a transit park where you will at least park about 100 trucks, so that they will move from your parking lot to the loading stations and when they load, they move away. But go and do a feasibility study, how many of these tank farms have a transit park that can accommodate up to 50 trucks in Apapa there? And even if they do, here is a situation where you have close to about 60 tank farms in Apapa and each of these tank farms, if they are working under full capacity, has the capacity to load at least one or two hundred trucks a day. If 40 tank farms are loading 200 trucks in a day, and they don’t have a parking lot, what do you think will happen? So, government again has failed in its responsibility by not enforcing the tank farm owners to have a transit park where they will park their trucks. That’s one area the government has failed. Also, the government has failed to provide security for these pipelines to be functional, so that petroleum products can be pumped through these pipelines to the hinterland, so that these trucks have no reason to come here, they will go to the various depots and load, and move from there to the hinterland and distribute to the various fuel stations. So, these are some of the reasons you have these logistic hiccups.
One of the major concerns that have always been raised by stakeholders is that these tankers have refused to join the electronic call-up system. What is your take on this?
Before now, the freight rate of these trucks that come to pick petroleum products is being paid by the government. It is not subject to the pressure of demand and supply. When you have regulatory bodies like Petroleum Product Price Regulatory Agency and Petroleum Equalization Fund, we have just moved to the removal of fuel subsidy, so it has been deregulated. But before now, the income of the tanker owner, who is virtually a NARTO member, is not subject to the pressure of demand and supply and they have a template. What we call a template is what guides the payment. So, if you are saying they should move into an electronic call-up system, they have to pay some money and that was not initially viewed in the pricing template of PPPRA. So, it’s like an additional cost that has to be borne by them. There’s a pricing template and a lot of these variables are viewed into this template that is being paid by government. So, if you are saying they should move into an electronic call-up system, they will have to pay some money and it was that price that was initially viewed into the pricing template of their payment of freight rates. So, if you ask them to move, they will move because they are responsible. NARTO is a responsible body. If you ask us to take the trucks away from there, they will, but what does it imply? It implies that there will be petroleum scarcity. So, there are a lot of things that really need to be looked into. The way these things are, it’s not the way people are looking at it. Government again has failed in its responsibility and you may say why these trucks are not having their private parks. They are coming to do business; they should own their own parks. These trucks are coming from all over the country and they have their various parks from where they are coming from. In the first instance, they are not here on their own, they are there to come pick petroleum products and go. So, we don’t expect people to put the burden on them.
Truckers have overtime raised concerns about the forfeiture of the trucks with seized cargoes at the various Customs formations. What are your concerns as regards this and how do you think this can be addressed?
Why are Customs seizing the cargo in the first instance? It is because of probably infractions in duty payment. But where did the truck pass through before it came out? Was there no Customs examination done before the truck came out? And if there was, why didn’t they look into it then? Did the truck fly through the air to come out? The Customs will examine the truck, release the truck, so it comes out. From where the truck loaded to where the customs examination spots where it was examined. There is customs also at the gate of the port. Then the same cargo that was cleared, you have customs, Federal Operations Unit or Area B Police men who will later besiege the consignment and the means of conveyance. We are only messengers. We are not privy to the customs law. The customs says, seize the container and allow the truck to go and they know it. There is a clause like that within the customs act. The means of conveyance should be set free. Take the container and then leave the means of conveyance. Yet, because of overzealousness or some corruption tendency they unnecessarily cause problems for transporters and yet you tie down a lot of trucks in Customs formations in the ports. That is why you have over-time cargoes in the ports, because these same trucks that pick these cargoes from the terminals are the same trucks that they are holding at the customs formations.
The issue of minimum safety standards by trucks have also been a thing of concern where we have accidents caused by rickety trucks on the highways. How do you think this can really be addressed?
Look, a good or new truck is an asset to the owner. If you have a good truck, it is an asset to the owner and everybody wants a new truck. But, again, you keep talking of minimum standards. Yes, of course, these truckers are trying their best; well, not all of them are trying their best. Now, there are a lot of variables that we need to consider. We have a bank for farmers and agriculturalists. You also have the Cabotage Act that makes provisions for acquisition of vessels. At a point in time, the government was assisting the airlines also. Now, what is the percentage of cargo that these airlines move, when compared to road? And then again, if agricultural industries produce a lot of industrial goods, if it does not get to the final consumer, the processes is incomplete. What moves them there? Is it not trucks? And if all these are there and trucks are not moving, the process is not complete. All these airlines have the whole intervention, they have government funds for them. Now, the transport sector that is responsible for movement of cargo to the tune of 80% to 90% is being neglected. We have always said government should set up or establish a transport development bank to assist transporters. A brand new truck before now was costing 25 million, now it’s about 45 million, just the head. And with the economic situation in this country now, our business is not booming. So, how we are going to get new trucks? What is the form of assistance that transporters are getting, when compared to their counterparts in the other sectors of the industry? You cannot have this kind of situation and be talking of minimum standard. Then come to think of the accident that you are talking about. When these container vehicles carrying a 32-ton container get into a ditch, it will obviously tilt and then law of gravity will set in, and it will fall off. Go and trace most of these accidents, you would see that they around the bad spots. So, these things are things that people need to really consider. That’s not to say that some of the transporters are also compliant. Some of them are also careless in terms of maintenance. But a good percentage of these things are as a result of these factors. There is need for something to be done and we have always advocated for a road transport regulatory body. So, transportation does not become an all-come-out affair but you set standards.
We have heard some controversies as regards trucking associations pulling out of COMTUA. Where does NARTO stand in all of this?
The situation as it is now is that NAMTOP, NARTO and MWUN are coming together to form a collaboration. And then I think with these bodies coming together, it is going to go a long way for the maritime sector. MWUN is a critical stakeholder, NARTO and NAMTOP are critical stakeholders as well as other bodies. If they come together and join forces together, I think it will be better for the maritime sector.
