Haulage cost drops as NRC resumes cargo movement to Kano, Kaduna dry ports

The Nigerian Railway Corporation has resumed the movement of cargoes in containers from Lagos to Kano and Kaduna dry ports, more than a year after it suspended the operations.

Managing Director of Inland Containers Nigeria Limited (ICNL), Ismail Yusuf, who stated stated this during an interview with journalists in Lagos, added that the cost of haulage had thus dropped by 50 per cent compared to what the road transporters charge.

In September 2020, the NRC suspended the movement of containers by rail from Apapa port for rehabilitation of the rail tracks.

Yusuf said about 40 containers had been moved so far, adding that 40 empty containers had been returned through the same mode to Lagos from the Kano and Kaduna inland dry ports.

Apart from cost reduction, he said the movement by rail would  save time and ensure the safety of the consignments being moved by rail.

According to him, it will now cost a half of what is presently being spent on road haulage to move containers by rail.

According to him, the ICNL is still in talks with the NRC to deploy additional coaches to the port operation because his company has cargoes on the ground to be moved.

“As you know that the Federal Government is encouraging the Nigerian Railway Corporation to ensure movement of cargo from the seaport to the hinterland and this is very critical to our Kano-bonded terminal and Kaduna Inland Dry Port, which is our subsidiary company,” Yusuf said.

He also said, “The management of ICNL and Kaduna Dry Port has led the management of the railway corporation to discuss the modalities of how they can come back to life. We thank God that our request has been acceded to and this is the outcome of our discussion.

“Presently, they have supplied us with two rails for the last two weeks. We have moved about 40 containers, and this will continue every fortnight until we attain maximum capacity.

“The number of containers being moved also depends on the availability of locomotives, and as long as we have enough cargos to load.

“We have started from somewhere: from one to two rails and from there we can increase it to four or five rails.

“We are talking with NRC on how we can increase the capacity to meet the yearnings of customers who want to use the services of the rail corporation. Time spent on the movement is a minimum of 48 hours and a maximum of 72 hours.”