NPA’s N27,000 e-call up system hijacked, sells for N150,000 by cabals - Freight forwarders

By Abiodun OBA

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Truck Transit Park Limited (TTP) electronic call-up system (ETO) for trucks accessing Lagos ports is allegedly being disrupted by some cabals.

Freight forwarders alleged that black marketers book the tickets way ahead despite not needing to access the ports for profiteering purposes thus block those who need to enter the port from getting the tickets, especially when the ports are filled with trucks.

The set of individuals who buy the ETO tickets and other associated at a total charge of N21,500 per truck, hoards and resell them at N150,000 to truckers who, out of fear of losing their Terminal Delivery Order (TDOs) and desperation, buy at the cut-throat price to access the ports.

Recall that NPA had temporarily suspended the release of flatbed trucks from Satellite truck parks to Pre-gate from entering various terminals in the Lagos Port Complex.

Speaking on the impacts of the decision by NPA, the Chairman of Lilypond Export Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Femi Olabanji, lamented that trucks could no longer enter into the terminal as the TTP and NPA would claim that the portal is full.

Olabanji said people are now going through the expressway directly into the port, which is a practice that has since been stopped through the introduction of the call-up system.

He said the call-up system was bought for around N27,000 and is now selling for N150,000 by certain cabals.

“They are telling us that the portal is full and that we cannot go into the terminal, but they are generating a call-up system and selling it for N150,000.

“After buying the call-up for N150,000, you would use N30,000 for access for the truck into the port. Sometimes, you can spend N200,000 before entering the port. This has taken away the whole grace of whatever achievements recorded before,” he said.

He said demurrage on a 40ft container at the terminal costs N60,000 per day, while 20ft container demurrage is N45,000. Before now, he said, they were paying N15,000 as terminal charges.

However, when contacted, the Corporate Communications Manager, Trucks Transit Parks Limited, Nancy Nnamdi, said the problem is with some private ‘pre-gate’ operators who generate call-up tickets they do not need for their private trucks to access the ports.

She said these call-up tickets eventually find their way to the black market and are sold at outrageous prices especially when there is traffic.

Nnamdi said persons who buy the tickets earlier, change their truck number plates with those they sell the tickets to, who then put the plate numbers on their trucks to skip the line and enter the port on time.

According to her, the total amount paid for the call-up ticket of a truck from the portal is N10,800, with a breakdown from one of the tickets to include, N10, 000 as subtotal, N750 tax and N50 for stamp denotation.

She said the TTP ticket price plus matching puts the total amount spent on Eto at N21,500 and not N150,000 as alleged.

“What we have are unscrupulous elements within the trucking community, they will buy call-up tickets two weeks ahead and sell them to truckers who are eager to enter the port on time at an exorbitant price. Nobody can change the cost on the app, it is people who are buying tickets ahead and now sell it to others at a higher price,” she explained.

She said TTP is in talks with NPA on the use of technology like Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for vehicle identification and authorisation as well as the display of number plates that cannot be changed from truck to truck.

“TTP is in conversation with NPA on measures that will ensure that these people don’t continue this illegal act and people are not able to change the number plate from one truck to the other. We have also been suggesting to NPA about the RFID tag on each truck such that it is that tag that will be verified on that particular truck, if it is switched to another truck, it will not be verified,” she stated.

Confirming this, the Secretary General of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners of Nigeria (AMATO), Mohammed Sani, sent an ETO ticket invoice confirming the price on the app as N10,800.

He said the Eto call-up official charges for both bookings is 10,750, which he also recently booked on a truck.