PTML Terminal sulks over Auto policy - records 159,000 Imported Vehicles in 2018

By ZION Olalekan |

Frontline Roll-on Roll-off vehicle terminal at Tin Can Island Port; Ports and Terminal Multiservices Limited (PTML) is still smarting from the harsh effect of the National Automotive policy which it lamented has depressed its working capacity by 35 per cent.

Speaking on the activities of the terminal, the General Manager, Tunde Keshinro declared that the facility handled a total number of 159,000 units of vehicles in year 2018 alone, saying that this figure is still very low compared to 200,000 units the terminal was handling in 2012.

Keshinro lamented that the terminal is still 35% down from what it used to handle.

He said the automotive policy of 2013 drastically reduced the quantity of vehicles getting discharged into PTML and that the terminal had to diversify into handling general goods in other to survive.

According to him, the ban on importation of vehicles through land borders helped to bring back cargoes to the terminal by 50%, he however lamented that most of the vehicles are damaged ones.

Speaking, Keshinro stated that “I can tell you that as a terminal, we delivered roughly about 159,000 units vehicles of all types in 2018, in 2017, we handled 110,000 units. Things have picked up, but not up to the level we were in 2012 and 2013, these were periods that importation was high for every terminal”

“We are about 35% down from what we used to have”

“In 2015, we had to go through a process of retrenchment, the terminal being a multi purpose terminal also diversified by embracing general cargo and some other business opportunities within the industry in order to stay afloat”

“At the beginning of 2017, the government came up with a policy restricting entry through the land borders and this has fundamentally changed the game, as at the second quarter of 2017, things started picking up and by 2018, we acknowledged that vehicle importation into Lagos port picked up by 50%”

“However as good as the increase was, we didn’t rise up to the level of the business before the automotive policy, when you compare the vehicle importation against a period of 2016-2017, it is fair to agree that things picked up because vehicles that are hitherto routed through the borders by importers to beat the high cost of tariff, they were compelled to channel their cargo to Lagos port”

“This equally brought another dimension into the business and this has to do with the nature of vehicles being imported, what we observed is that we now have more of damaged, accidented and relatively low grade vehicles compared to what we use to have in 2012 and 2013 prior to the implementation of the policy”

“The high duty was still there, and for people to be able to cope with the product which is used vehicles, they had to play with the low-end purchases from the countries of origin and this had to do with salvaged vehicles, and these are equally older models rather than newer models”

“Majority of the vehicles being imported are less than 2010 as year of manufacture, we expect to see newer vehicles of 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018, and when I look at the set of vehicles coming into the country in terms of age, you would see few 2017, 2018 vehicles, they now appear to be for the super rich and this shouldn’t be, we should address our mind to the fact these old vehicles add to the environmental issues”