Strike: Customs Brokers lament hike in haulage charges

Tayo OLADIPUPO          |          

The ten days strike embarked upon by truck drivers in the maritime industry has taken its toll on the cost of doing business in the ports as freight forwarders and licensed customs agents on Thursday  lamented that haulage charges on cargoes have skyrocketed.

Recall that truck drivers in haulage sub sector of the maritime industry went on strike for ten days to show their grievances against illegalities perpetrated against them by different security agencies manning the port access roads.  

The cost of moving goods from the port to other locations within Lagos has gone up by almost 50 percent.

The same volume of cargoes that the truckers used to carry at one hundred and thirty thousand naira (N130, 000) now costs three hundred and twenty thousand naira (320,000)

Alex Iloh of a freight forwarding company who spoke with our correspondent lamented how the aftermath of the strike has done more harm than good.

He however blamed the several associations in the subsector for their laxity and inability to fight the cause of their members.

On return, charges on transportation of containers and other general cargoes  skyrocketed.

“What ordinarily was supposed to move out of Port with N130, 000, will now take with N380, 000 as I speak to you now and the associations are not doing anything about it”

“I really applauded the ability of truck owners to stand firm and pursue their cause making sure they are not ripped off with N5, 000.

“The associations are on their own because they are not ready to fight for anybody and today, we are paying demurrage.

“Why I said they are on their own is because they go behind and collect”, he alleged.

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