There is palpable fear among some section of vehicle importers in Nigeria following the high scale flooding nicknamed ‘Hurricane Sandy’ which rocked the United States of America last week, even as some of them have predicted that there might be a down turn in vehicle business in the nearest future.
The importers hinged their fears on the fact that the ‘Hurricane Sandy’ paralyzed port activities in some parts of the USA and many vehicles have been washed away by flood while some have been displaced automatically.
There is palpable fear among some section of vehicle importers in Nigeria following the high scale flooding nicknamed ‘Hurricane Sandy’ which rocked the United States of America last week, even as some of them have predicted that there might be a down turn in vehicle business in the nearest future.
The importers hinged their fears on the fact that the ‘Hurricane Sandy’ paralyzed port activities in some parts of the USA and many vehicles have been washed away by flood while some have been displaced automatically.
As at press time last week, the ports of New York and New Jersey were completely shut down while that of Baltimore in Maryland has just resumed skeletal port operations.
However in Lagos, an Ikeja- based fairly used auto dealer and importer; Mr. Stephen Uzunuoma told Shipping Position Daily that some Nigerian vehicle importers are victims of the flood in USA.
He confirmed that the disaster will affect importation of vehicles into Africa and Nigeria in particular; pointing out that most Nigerians who import vehicles into the country through USA will experience huge losses.
Uzunuoma explained that Hurricane Sandy will continue to affect Nigerians directly or indirectly even outside vehicle importation.
He also predicted that the importation of vehicles from United States into the country in the forthcoming Christmas and New Year will drop.
In his words,“apart from vehicle importation into the country from the United States, the natural disaster will affect most of us directly and indirectly because we import other things from there”.
“We should also expect low volume of imported vehicles into the country this festive season as a result of the flood” he said.
On his part, a Festac- based vehicle importer, Alhaji Ahmed Mamuda noted that whenever there is a disaster of this nature, it usually leads to an increase in the importation of affected vehicles into the country as most of the vehicles will be shipped to Africa at an affordable price.
Mamuda said that vehicles with less electrical parts may not be affected by the flood, but added that most of the latest models will suffer. He explained that most vehicles with high technology gadgets should be avoided by Nigerians whenever such vehicles start finding their ways into Nigeria.
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