NPA Breaks Truck Owners’ Strike, Registers Trucks From 32 Corporate Firms

The Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) may have scored a major point against protesting truck owners, who had vowed to withdraw their trucks from doing business in Lagos ports, owing to disagreement over minimum standard and payment of annual entry permit fee.
Even though the truck owners had threatened to paralyse cargo evacuation activities through withdrawal of haulage services, a visit to the ports yesterday revealed that trucks were moving in and out of Lagos ports unhindered, and as if there was no strike.
Shipping Position Daily correspondent who was at Apapa port yesterday saw a long queue of trucks waiting to enter into the ports to load containers.
When our correspondent asked the truck drivers if they were not aware of the strike, they declared that the strike was dead and that some of them had started loading containers and other cargoes since yesterday afternoon.
Many trucks were also sighted leaving the Apapa port with containers and general cargo.
However, further investigations revealed that not less than 32 firms with fleet of trucks have already keyed-into the NPA’s directive on trucks standardisation and minimum requirements.
A list containing the 32 companies was made available to Shipping Position Daily by NPA Western Ports.
The list contains 16 firms that have already scaled all the hurdles towards standardisation, while another set of 16 were classified as being ‘under processing’.
Top on the list of companies that have finished the processing and whose trucks now enter the port freely are: SIFAX, Thasious, AlHadiat, Pika, Westone, Range, Pacific, Sino Cargo, Africa Logistics, etc.
Some of the companies whose trucks were still being examined and said to be ‘under processing’ include: Buildwell Plant and Logistics, Classic Marine, ENL, Dangote, Banarly, and GMT Logistics, among others.
But, spokesman of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Mr Stanley Ezenga said that the truck drivers’ strike had reduced cargo movements at the Lagos ports.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday that the strike had added to the problems of foreign exchange restriction on some goods and the prevailing low imports.
Ezenga said that since Monday, when the National Association of Truck Owners (NATO) embarked on an indefinite industrial action, it had been difficult to move cargoes in and out the ports.
“Some of our members who got their cargoes released by Customs were not able to move them to the owners.
“The scenario is pathetic. If allowed to continue, it may spell doom for the economy as artificial scarcity of goods might creep in.
“The situation is not freight-friendly at all,’’ he said.