We haven’t laid off workers over drop in import volume — Five Star Logistics

Contrary to reports that Five Star Logistics Terminal has asked some workers to leave due to the drop in import volume, the Managing Director of the Roll-On Roll-Off terminal, Mr Rigo Nazzari, has stated that no worker has been asked to leave even though the impact of the drop in import volume has been harsh.

“Yes, I can confirm that import volume has dropped by 60 or 70 per cent, but we have not laid off any workers.

As all companies do, we are optimising our activities, but we have not asked any workers to leave,” Mr Rigo Nazzari told the Nigerian Tribune exclusively.

Recall that checks by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that some roll-on roll-off terminals, which used to handle 300,000 units of vehicle imports, now barely handle 100,000 units due to various reasons, including Naira devaluation, high customs duty costs, and petrol costs.

Speaking exclusively to the Nigerian Tribune, the Managing Director of Grimaldi Nigeria, operators of Ports & Terminal Multiservices Ltd., Mr Ascanio Russo, lamented that the terminal has been forced to streamline its operations due to the sharp drop in the volume of importations.

According to Mr Russo, who manages the affairs of Nigeria’s largest vehicle importation port terminal, “the volume of vehicle importations has dropped significantly.

I cannot give you an exact figure, but I can tell you we are currently experiencing a 60 to 70 per cent drop in the volume of vehicle imports.”

On the reasons why vehicle importation into Nigeria has dropped by 60 to 70 per cent, the Grimaldi Nigeria boss blamed Naira devaluation, the high cost of petrol, and the high cost of customs duty.

“The reasons behind the drop in vehicle importations into Nigeria are multiple. The major reason, however, is tied to the devaluation of the naira.

This makes it much more expensive to buy vehicles from the US, Europe, or anywhere else. Then there is the element of the high cost of gasoline, which, of course, makes it much more expensive to operate a car.

Thirdly, there is the customs duty that has gone up due to the devaluation of the naira. Customs is now plying between N750 and N770 for duty calculation on import units of vehicles.

The customs duty is much more expensive than before when we used to have it at N450. So, all these factors have combined to lead to a sharp drop in the volume of import units of vehicles,” the PTML boss explained.

On how the terminal has been coping to remain in business, Mr. Russo stated, “We have been managing the situation.

We have been streamlining our activities and trying to reduce costs wherever we can. We have been greatly affected by the drop in the number of import units of vehicles coming to Nigeria.”

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