Movement of imports and export goods in and out of the seaport to the hinterlands is still at its low rate despite the infusion of over $1.5 billion into the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail Line.
Though cargo haulage by rail across the country is witnessing slight improvement as shown by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the volume remains meagre when compared to the total volume of cargo handled in the nation’s seaport annually, showing that the majority of Nigeria’s imports and exports still move via road.
“Lack of a functional rail system to move cargo to the hinterland has been impeding the ease of doing business and resulting in congestion at the seaports, delays vessel discharge, and increases turnaround time for ships,” said Pius Akutah, executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council.
This, Akutah said, compels importers and exporters to pay high demurrage and also results in trucks and tankers cogging the road, and causing traffic gridlock.
Data shared by the Nigerian Port Consultative Council shows that a total of 1,566,162 million Twenty Equivalent Units of containers were brought into the Nigerian seaports in 2023.
Also, cargo throughput excluding crude oil recorded 70.47 million metric tons in 2023.
However, Charles Okaga, immediate past port manager of Lagos Ports, said that about 10,000 TEU moves were recorded in the first half of 2024 against the 9,000 moves recorded in the year 2023.
This shows that only about 0.6 per cent of the total containers brought into the country yearly are moved by rail.
According to NBS data, a total of 317,244 metric tons of goods were moved via rail across Nigeria in 2023 representing a 144.32 increase compared to 157,024 metric tons moved via rail in 2022.
In terms of metric tons, the 2023 volume represents 0.5 per cent of the total cargo throughput imported in 2023.
NBS’s Rail Transportation Data stated that the volume of goods transported via rail in quarter one of 2024 stood at 160,650 tons compared to 59,966 tons recorded at the same time in 2023.
Similarly, N607.32 million was collected from goods conveyed via rail up by 235.03 per cent from N181.27 million received at the same time in 2023.
BusinessDay discovered that several reasons result in gross underuse of rail for haulage and the reasons range from technical, cost, and low acceptance by shippers.
Akinwunmi Oshilowo, director of Operations and Commercial Services at the NRC, said at a recent stakeholders’ summit, said the rail tracks are heavily vandalised by hoodlums.
Oshilowo said there is no clear jurisdiction between rail lines and port as NRC locomotives keep facing access challenges to the ports due to too many trucks clogging the railway right of way inside the Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited (ABTL) section of the Apapa Port.
“The NRC didn’t have enough Marshaling Yards inside the ports making it a nightmare to bring locomotives into the APM Terminals in Apapa. The corridor through which we navigate into the ports, which is located at ABTL terminal is too narrow and always congested with trailers,” he said.
This, he said, results in accidents as trains collide with trailers along the Apapa corridor while trying to enter the ports, which ends up hampering rail services at the ports.
He said one of the major reasons why trains had not been able to access the rail line at Greenview Development terminal, which is at the quayside of the port, is because of the persistent vandalising of the rail tracks and assets inside the port.
An effective and functional railway system is critical to driving the growth of inland dry ports, a project promoted by the Nigerian Shippers Council to decongest the seaports and bring port business closer to users.
Akutah said the incessant cases of stealing rail assets along Lagos-Kaduna, Kaduna-Zaria, Zaria-Funtua, and Kano have stalled the commencement of train transport of cargo from and to the hinterland ports.
He said the use of the train system is considered pivotal to cost-effectiveness, less risk, and overall management of the dry port.
Meanwhile, Fidet Okhiria, managing director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, said Nigerian importers and exporters have been showing apathy toward using the railway.
This, he said, was evident in the recent movement of 17 containers from Apapa Port to Dala Inland Dry Port in Kano, where it took NRC a long time to gather 17 containers.
He said the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria can come together to move their goods in bulk, which is cost-effective and can make the end product or raw materials get to the factories at a cheaper rate.
The 157-kilometer Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail Line was inaugurated into operations on June 10, 2021, with passenger services from Lagos to Moniya in Ibadan, commencing immediately on June 15 of the same year.
The rail line was commissioned by then President Muhammadu Buhari without the contractor, China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) Nigeria Limited, completing the track laying to Apapa Port, which hit a brick wall at the APM Terminals, Apapa container terminal.
It was later discovered that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) scanning building, built under the Destination Inspection Scheme a few years back, and its examination bay, were sitting in the way of the rail track.
This matter was resolved on September 23, leading to the commencement of container haulage on the rail line.
