Sifax laments dip in profit over dilapidated Mile 2-Tin Can Road

By Dapo Olawuni |

Sifax Group, operators of Ports and Cargo Terminal at Tin Can Port has lamented high operational costs due to the collapsed Mile 2- Tin can road which is currently under construction.

The company lamented that one of its bonded terminals located at Trinity Bus stop along Coconut axis has been worst hit as it has proven difficult to transfer containers from the port to the bonded terminal in record time.

Speaking with our correspondent, the Corporate Affairs Manager of Sifax Group, Olumuyiwa Alande said that truck turn around time from Tin Can to the bonded terminal has dropped greatly.

He said that it now takes three days to move a container from Tin Can Port to Trinity Bus stop, a journey our correspondent learnt should not take more than ten minutes.

Speaking, Mr. Akande also lamented the negative impact of the bad roads on the health of drivers of the company.

“The challenges are visible, these are challenges that are clear to everybody, we still have a lot of problems with the roads, it is a major challenge”

“Imagine that to move a container from Ports and Cargo terminal to Trinity Bus Stop takes three days, and to a large extent, this has impacted our profitability”

“If a truck is supposed to make three trips in a day but it is making one trip in three days, at the end of the month you still must pay the driver even though he has not made the number of trips he should make in a month.
But it behooves on us to pay the driver at the expense of the company”

“We also spend money sometimes to buy rubbles and fill these bad portions of the roads just for operations to continue” he said

The Sifax Group spokesman also revealed that at her bonded warehouse around the Trinity Bus stop where tank farms are located, the company most times deploy its equipment in evacuating fallen containers and petroleum tankers, just so as to ease its own operations.

Continuing, he said “I don’t understand why an industry which is a high revenue generation for the federal government is being treated this way, I don’t think this industry is being treated fairly”

“At Trinity is where we have the biggest challenge, sometimes when tankers and trailers fall, we deploy our equipment because if we don’t, our business will suffer”

“Even on the health of the drivers, the traffic is telling on them, they stay on the road for three days, the driver cannot have a good sleep, we all know the health implication of this”

“As a result of the congestion, the roads now have become their toilets, their bathrooms and so on and this has environmental implication”