Group laments stunted growth of transport industry in Nigeria

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria has stated that the developmental strides and attractions to the aviation industry may kill the vision of a National Carrier.

National Executive Director of the Institute, Mr. Paul Ndibe don’t sclosed this in Lagos recently.
He added that the transport and logistics sector did not record an impressive growth in the first quarter of 2018.

According to Ndibe, public opinion showed that there was no visible mechanism in place for establishment of National Carrier as well as that there is low attractions to air travel in Nigeria which he stated will not add to the growth of Nigerian economy.

In his words, ”On the road sector, no measureable signs of growth except that the commercial intercity bus services had continued, there are no signs of new injection of more participants, the ones that are there are beginning to stabilize and to see if they can increase their potentials but there are no signs of new investors entering that sector.

“But on the haulage side, yes, many more companies are opting for third party logistics and those that are there have seen the danger in using old trucks that will fail them and their goods will be endangered and the issue of demurrage and insurance will be there.

“So, you can see that there is beginning to be a change in terms of acquisition of articulated vehicles, maybe because of what NPA has threatened to do alongside the Federal Road Safety Commission in terms of banning certain vehicles from getting closer to the ports.

“Those who are acquiring now are trying to acquire even if they may be more expensive but the ones that are more durable and ones that can stand the test of time and give them quality service before they start breaking down again.

“However, the haulage sector is still not very vibrant looking at the port situation and the access road. That has killed any new initiative in that sector and because of that, even though there would have been measurable increase in terms of output but the inflation rate is still there because the waiting time of these trucks and the demurrage and all that will ultimately be transferred to the final user and that has increased the unit cost of commodities and inflation rate has stabilized at that level.

So, not having good access road to the port has also affected the expected growth in terms of the road arm of the logistics and transport sector”.

The Executive Director observed that the case was the same with the maritime sector where access to the ports to send or pick containers was still a major problem, adding that the maritime sector had also not fared very well because of the increasing demurrage and dwell time of ships where demurrages were to be paid.

“Maybe the initial burden of demurrage will be taken by the ship owner but then it will eventually be transferred to the shipper. Security risks in terms of piracy, we saw an increase in the beginning of the year and that has also sent some fears in the sector, although it has stabilized now and confidence is being restored”.