Fresh indications have emerged that haulage truck operators are gradually shying away from loading petroleum products at the popular Ibru-Ibafon tank farms along the Apapa-Oshodi expressway as a result of the chaotic traffic situation.
This revelation came to the fore last week during Shipping Position Daily interaction with some of the petroleum tanker drivers around the tank farms who said that they are now scared of coming to load at Apapa.
Fresh indications have emerged that haulage truck operators are gradually shying away from loading petroleum products at the popular Ibru-Ibafon tank farms along the Apapa-Oshodi expressway as a result of the chaotic traffic situation.
This revelation came to the fore last week during Shipping Position Daily interaction with some of the petroleum tanker drivers around the tank farms who said that they are now scared of coming to load at Apapa.
The drivers confided in our correspondent that many of their colleagues have already decided not to take on any assignment that involves coming to load petroleum products at the Apapa tank farms due to the bad roads and the security challenges in the country.
Olawale Ashiru who drives an NNPC truck said that for the past three weeks, the Berger Cement Bus stop to Liverpool axis has become very inaccessible; he stated that even if all the depots around the axis have the product and are ready to load, it is only few trucks that we be able to make their way to the depot.
“Some haulage operators are already shying away from picking the product, it is a volatile product, the other day at the Coconut bridge, it was only God that saved us, a fully loaded truck got into one of the potholes and it was about going down, today we are afraid to pick up the product because it is not easy” he said.
Ashiru appealed to the government to direct the construction company in charge of the ongoing construction around the axis; Borini Prono to make concerted efforts in filling the portholes as a temporary measure.
Another driver who claimed to have driven in from the Niger Delta said that government should concentrate on ensuring that products are available at the Warri and Calabar tank farms in other to take the pressure off Lagos.
He explained that the problem of the haulage business is multifaceted and that apart from the Boko Haram issue in the North, the oil thieves have also defined means of snatching trucks from drivers along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, this according to him is because the thieves also capitalize on the bad roads.
“They come into the ‘hold up’, monitor a truck to a point, tie the driver in the bush and take away the product, as I am talking to you now more than 10 trucks have been missing since the beginning of this year, some of the drivers are found most later after three days or one week, some are not found at all, there is hardly any week that we don’t get reports of hijacking”, he lamented.
Shipping Position Daily also learnt that some of the drivers do not want anything to do with the lifting of PMS because of its volatility, according to them, when a truck falls; the PMS goes up in flames immediately unlike the other products.
“The tendency for such occurrence is higher when you have a rough terrain like we have it around here, especially a bad road with a lot of potholes submerged in water, most drivers are scared of coming here because of the risk that comes with maneuvering through this location” one of the NUPENG executives told our correspondent at Ascorn Depot
“Apart from this, before you get to the depot to load, you must have wasted six hours, and when you eventually load, you may not be able to go out until around 2am or 4am”.
“I have witnessed it here, a vehicle that loaded around 5pm in the evening will remain on the lane while the exit lane is permanently locked up, they will now have to wait till around 2am or 4am before they will have easy way to maneuver, this will not last for an hour before the buildup of the following morning comes up again” he stressed.
He also said that the filling stations are being forced to bear the brunt because the haulage companies usually charge extra fees as a result of the delay incurred and the fuel wasted in the traffic.
Discussion about this post