Findings have revealed that access to capital is a major reason foreigners are taking over barge operations from indigenous operators at the Lagos ports of Apapa and Tin-Can.
Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune, a clearing agent, who is also a Customs broker, Mr Jide Onabanjo, explained that gradually, more sophisticated barges are being used at the Lagos ports compared to the early days of barge operation where rickety and old fashioned barges were deployed by indigenous operators.
According to Mr Onabanjo, “Now, modern and more advanced barges are being deployed at the Lagos ports by foreigners. The era of old fashioned and poorly equipped barges is gradually phasing out.
“When barge operations started some years ago, we were having situations where containers were falling off barges into the lagoon because most of the barges were poorly equipped. Most of the indigenous operators lacked access to funding and couldn’t acquire modern and sophisticated barges.
“However, towards the last quarter of last year, we started seeing modern barges around the port terminals in Lagos. On enquiry, we found out that most of the new barges belonged to foreigners who are now getting involved in barge operations at our ports.
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“It is a good development because it brings efficiency to barge operations, but the indigenous operators are gradually getting phased out. Most of them lack the kind of financial wherewithal that their foreign counterparts have access to.
“It is only a matter of time before these foreigners take over the business. For a clearing agent like me, I really don’t care who moves my cargo by barge as long as the consignment gets to their destination in safe condition. However, as a Nigerian, I sometimes feel for the indigenous operators due to their financial difficulty which is really telling on their businesses.
“I have friends among the barge operators, and when I asked them why they cannot get bank loans to finance their businesses, they complain that bank loans have very stringent conditions attached to them. If only they can get loans at single digit interest rates.”
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