Truck operators have said the 30 per cent reduction in haulage charges proposed by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to ease the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown is no longer sustainable.

They said the directive only covered the COVID-19 lockdown period and could not be extended.

It was gathered that based on this argument, the truck owners had hiked their rates.

The truckers also said while their rates were being reduced, barge operators kept their rates intact, saying that there was a need to create a level playing field for all operators.

At the start of the lockdown in March, the NSC and transport associations had agreed to review the haulage rates downwards by 30 per cent as part of their contribution to ameliorating the impact of the lockdown on businesses.

Truck owners gave the reason for hiking the rates as the slow pace of the ongoing road construction along the Wharf Mile 12 corridor was impeding truck movement.

They also explained that it did not make business sense for truck owners to keep their rates down while the barge operators failed to reduce theirs.

Head of Operations, Council of Maritime Truck Unions and Associations, Inuwa Abdullahi, was quoted as saying that the continued decay in port infrastructure posed danger to business.

Inuwa remarked that haulage rate was a matter of demand and supply.

He confirmed that no fixed price was attached to the haulage charges at the moment but added that the current charge was well above the reduced rate introduced by the NSC.

He said the NSC should have engaged the barge operators to reduce their rate, noting that limiting it to just the truck sector sent a negative signal to the haulage subsector of the maritime industry.

The Public Relations Officer at West Africa Road Transport Union, Salami Nasiru, while commending the NSC’s intervention on haulage rates during the lockdown, said there was a need to create a level playing field for all stakeholders.