Unstable forex, absence of rail haulage hampering our operations — KIDP

Rotimi Raimi-Hassan is the General Manager of Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP), Nigeria’s first dry port that evolved from being a bonded terminal licensed by Nigeria Customs Service. In this interview with newsmen, he gives an insight into how the nation’s first dry port has fared since inception. TOLA ADENUBI brings excerpts.

Tell us more about Kaduna Inland Dry Port?

Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP) is the market leader in dry port business in West Africa. We have an incontrovertible position as the best in Nigeria because of our rich history from ICNL, our parent company with experienced and dedicated staff who give customers top quality service of moving containers from seaports in Lagos and Onne to Kaduna State.

Let me start by saying that we have a mandate to bring port activities and benefits to the hinterland area where they don’t have access to the sea and we have never lost focus on this mandate.

Our strategic location with our profile of competence puts us at a vantage position to serve the business communities in Kaduna, Abuja and other proximate states. We are critical participants in the chambers of trade and commerce in Kaduna and Lagos.

Recall that in 2020, the Abuja Chamber of Commerce described us as the only functional dry port in Nigeria. Although other dry ports are coming up in other parts of the country, which for us is good for competition, but we are not relenting in regularly improving our service delivery.

From our vast understanding of seaport operations, expertise in the logistics of cargo movement by road or rail and our seamless processing of shipment in our Kaduna Inland Dry Port’s facility, we have always prioritised customer satisfaction and adhered to meet government rules and regulatory requirements in all that we do. We are also making conscious efforts to continually give exporters real value for their business and supporting Federal Government initiative for economic diversification through non-oil export.

Kaduna Inland Dry Port is the most prepared dry port for the operation of domestic export warehouse (DEW) initiative by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).

Since former President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned our port in January 2018 as the first of its kind in West Africa, we have always worked relentlessly to add value to the nation’s economy and kept our promise of excellent service delivery.

Our organisation has a group of professionals who deliver world class services locally for importers and exporters and we are not lowering our standards for any reason despite the challenges in our operating environment.

How did KIDP fare in 2023 compared to 2022?

We all know last year was an election year and that comes with some setbacks to trade especially for those of us in the logistics business.

Last year, importation dropped by 40 percent in the last quarter of 2022 into first quarter of 2023 due to preparation by political parties to field their candidates into various positions for electorates to vote.

However, major challenges we encountered were increase in exchange rate for payment of Customs duty, high and unstable foreign exchange and difficulty to access it by importers which affected trade.

Other challenges are the lack of rail for haulage services, increase in diesel price that resulted in high transportation cost and others. This increase in petroleum products price following removal of subsidy also raised our cost of doing business.

Because of vandalisation of rail lines and rate of banditry and terrorism along Jebba to Kaduna on Lagos-Kaduna-Kano axis, export activities were affected at Kaduna Inland Dry Port. This made exporters not to enjoy cheaper export haulage by rail to Apapa and other ports.

How has KIDP fared in terms of Customs procedures?

Customs modernisation system has improved the Customs documentation process, but there is need for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to create mode of operations for inland dry ports in Nigeria and make the Customs documentation process seamless.

The inland dry port was established to decongest seaport and provide shipping activities for hinterland shippers by providing same facility or platform at seaport to those in the hinterland.

It is also to facilitate international trade without any barriers. The operators on inland dry port operate on status of bonded warehouse terminal operations. This has made the dry port less attractive to hinterland shippers for patronage.

The best international standard is for stakeholders to fine-tune the procedural process of how cargoes destined to Inland dry ports get treated preferentially. What I am saying in essence is that manifest concerning dry ports should be forwarded to Customs to key into the NCS server before the arrival of the vessel while the Customs officials at Lagos-Onne Customs Area Command give express approval and direct enforcement to do the needful of providing escort for transit surveillance to Kaduna Inland Dry Port terminal.

Here at the inland dry port, the resident Customs receive and tally the landing certificate for normal processes as obtained at the seaport.

It is widely believed that rail is cheaper for cargo haulage than road. How much have you benefitted from the Nigerian Railway Corporation?

The Nigeria Railway Corporation promised last year (November) that they would commence cargo rail transportation. We are still looking forward to this. For any inland dry port to operate effectively and efficiently, it needs support of a quality rail system, sound locomotive with enough carriage wagons to move the containers en masse at a given time.

The best and most cost effective mode of transportation of containers is by rail, which is far cheaper compared to road haulage that is very high in cost and the safety is not guaranteed like rail haulage.

Imagine that hundreds of laden containers are moved on a daily basis from Durban seaport to Johannesburg railway station where there are many terminals linked with rail lines connected for dispatching and loading of import/export goods.

We hope Nigerian Railway Corporation is working towards this direction. With my recent meeting with the Director of Operations, he has promised us that we should expect containers- rail haulage movement by early March this year.

We hope this will go a long way to reduce pressure on our roads and compliment it by reducing the high cost of transportation of import and export goods to hinterlands and to seaport terminals, respectively.

What are the things you think the Federal Government should do to improve productivity and viability of dry ports in Nigeria?

The Federal Government should create an enabling working environment with the major stakeholders to enhance the productivity and viability of inland dry ports in Nigeria. And these are workable by calling to order the three major stakeholders – Customs, shipping companies and Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) – to create effective and efficient working modalities for inland dry ports in Nigeria to operate like others works in foreign countries.

It has to work to create employment and enhance revenue to both state and federal governments. There is nowhere a port is sited that does not industrialise the state and that region.

The shipping businesses are concentrated majorly in Lagos and Port Harcourt. It should be decentralised to enable all located inland dry ports in Kaduna, Kano, Funtua and others to thrive and stimulate economic activities in the various regions where inland dry ports are sited. This is the only way the Federal Government objective of decongesting Lagos seaport can work.