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Port-hinterland trucking constraints in Nigeria
Journal of Transport Geography 19 (2011) 106–114
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Journal of Transport Geography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo
Port-hinterland trucking constraints in Nigeria A.E. Ubogu *, J.A. Ariyo, M. Mamman Department of Geography, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria
a r t i c l e Keywords: Nigeria Constraints Trucking Harassment Rank-order Magnitude
i n f o
a b s t r a c t A reliable and efficient transportation system contributes immensely to growth and prosperity of a nation. Nigeria, with its vast import traffic cannot afford to transport hinterland bound cargo in a manner not consistent with reliable practices. This study seeks to evaluate the rank-order and magnitude of the operational constraints associated with cargo haulage from Nigerian seaports to the hinterland. Data were obtained from primary sources through systematic administration of a questionnaire to truck drivers at the point of waiting in the seaport terminal. In all, 302 respondents were sampled. The results of the study reveals that ‘harassment’ from law enforcement agencies ranked first (Mean = 2.08). The results also shows that the association between nine pairs of the constraints were significant with the strongest negative correlation being that of delays and armed robbery, r = 0.599, p < 0.001. These results are fundamental for the prioritization of palliative measures to improve the operational problems of trucking in Nigeria. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction In the research literature, trucking operational difficulties have been considered from different dimensions. Studies of the operating constraints of long haul trucking are usually done in conjunction with driver behaviour (Golob and Hensher, 1997; Hensher et al., 1993), accidents (Loeb and Clark, 2007), disruptions in supply chain (Wilson, 2007; Hendricks and Singhal, 2005) and cost of operations (World Bank, 2007). The general approach of the behavioural theme has been to relate the operational problems of trucking to the behavioural pattern of long distance drivers. It is argued, for instance, that truckers by their nature indulge in long distance driving and so experience sleepless nights that are fundamental for the explanations of risks and subsequent accidents (Savage, 1989). This position has, however, not gone unchallenged. Loeb and Clark (2007) commenting on accidents of truck drivers have very well acknowledged that, indeed, the miles driven on roadways, alcohol consumption by truck drivers, and age of truck drivers have been shown to be positively linked to accidents. A recent study elsewhere (FHWA, 2009) have shown that highway bottlenecks arising from delays is estimated to be caused by non-recurring congestion. The result of transitory events such as construction work zones, crashes, breakdowns, extreme weather conditions and suboptimal traffic controls are all cases of delays in freight transport delivery. Consequently, the report notes with dismay that truck delay bottlenecks increases costs to business and consumers. To other writers, their approach has been to exam* Corresponding author. Tel.: +234 8033571591. E-mail address: [email protected] (A.E. Ubogu). 0966-6923/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2009.09.001
ine trucking operational problems within the framework of supply chain, since transport performs a critical role by enabling products to be made available at locations desired by the consumers (Potter and Lalwani, 2008) and that any disruption to material flows in the supply chain results in an abrupt cessation of the movement of goods (Wilson, 2007). According to Chopra and Sodhi (2004) transportation disruptions can occur as a result of natural disasters, labour disputes, terrorist activities and infrastructure failures. These disruptions have the propensity to stop the flow of goods when such goods in transit are interrupted. Imperatively, a disruption in transportation will certainly delay the arrival of consignments at destination points. However, several studies in Nigeria (Oni, 2000; Oni and Okanlawon, 2006; Ubogu, 2005; World Bank, 2007) suggest that poor roads, narrow bridges, menace of armed robbery on highways, harassment by security officials, touting, delays occasioned by traffic congestion, outright non-delivery of consignments consequent upon accidents, shortage or scarcity of fuel, incessant vehicle breakdown and traffic hold-up in the city centres are some of the operational difficulties confronting cargo haulage in the country. Quite often, commentators have identified poor quality of roads as a major drawback for trucking of consignments, in spite of the fact that, road haulage has been and still remains the most favoured mode for the movement of cargo (Oni, 2008). Unfortunately, this transport sub-sector is dominated by a large number of small-scale operators with most of the transport outfits not equipped with road worthy trucks. Other problems include overloading and the resultant damage to roads, poor vehicle maintenance which is a factor of the incessant breakdown of vehicles as well as numerous police check points. Some operational difficulties
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can be viewed within the context of the characteristics that are basic to all services: price, average transit time of delivering cargo to destination points, loss of goods in transit as well as damages to goods (Somuyiwa and Dosunmu, 2008). It is therefore not surprising that UNCTAD (1993) asserted that the transit time of freight to penetrate the hinterland in Nigeria is alarming. This is because it is much easier to move cargo from Europe to Nigeria than it is to move it to the hinterland. These numerous operational clogs coupled with traffic congestion, by no small means, increases the delays associated with cargo delivery. Furthermore, some goods do not reach their final destination. One major aspect that has been missing from these various studies in Nigeria has been the order and magnitude of the constraints. Indeed, the constraints on trucking operations have received only limited coverage in the oft cited works on long haul trucking. Previous studies on trucking operations have not sought to explicitly quantify the magnitude of the operational problems, though the nature of the clogs in long haul cargo distribution have been implied. The fact that most of the analyses of the different studies were undertaken in countries where the road haulage industry is under varying levels of regulation suggests that the identified problems might not yield identical results. This is because the economic regulation of rates, entry and standard of practice influences the operating practices of the industry (Harper and Johnson, 1987). The trucking industry in Nigeria is unregulated with no specific legal restrictions on entry into the industry (Olanrewaju, 1983). The fundamental purpose of this paper is to evaluate the order and magnitude of a subset of the operational problems on Nigeria’s two major port-hinterland corridors. Several factors were taken into consideration in the selection of the study sites. The first factor is the relative accessibility of the ports to import cargo. The Lagos and Port Harcourt port complexes dominate ocean shipping activities in Nigeria. Both complexes account for more than 75% of the shipping activities in Nigeria. The Lagos ports complex alone handles over 60% of the nation’s total import traffic while the Rivers port complex handles about 15% of the total traffic handled (NPA, 2004). Therefore, such ports are indirectly centres of haulage, trucking activities, bridging firms, and petroleum pipeline distribution centres as well as railway termini that engage in the transportation of goods to the hinterland. Applying rank-ordered technique, this study determines the order of the operational constraints facing the smooth operations of cargo delivery from the seaports to the hinterland.
2. The study area Roads provide by far the most important mode of transport in Nigeria. The highways in the country generally account for about 70% of the movement of goods and persons in the country (Akpogomeh, 2002). This is largely attributed to the natural advantage provided by the existence of vast land mass in Nigeria, when compared with waterways, and perhaps the inadequate attention being given to the rail system (Adesanya, 1998). The major cities, including the 36 states capitals and the federal capital are connected to each other by a network of two-lane highways; with some main connections being of four-lane, dual carriageway type. The road network in the south-western and south-eastern parts of the country is much denser than in the rest of Nigeria due to higher population densities (MITI, 2002, p. 109). Generally, the roads are classified into trunk A, B, and C roads constructed, managed and owned by the three tiers of government. Essentially, trunk A roads are the responsibility of the federal government (Digest of Transport Statistics, 2004) the majority of which are the paved highways of the country. Presently, some of the roads are in deplorable condition in most parts of the country (Oni and Okanlawon, 2006).
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The Nigerian road haulage industry has developed tremendously over the past 15–20 years. This is the growing reliance on road transportation and the relegation of rail in long haul freight transport. Incidentally, there are no reliable statistics on the size of the total truck market in Nigeria but it is estimated that the country’s trucking market is about 10,000–15,000 units annually (Eke, 2006). According to the National Bureau of Statistics (2006) the total registered land transport establishments are 742 including trucking firms. While well established road haulage providers operate with new and fairly new used trucks, smaller companies with lean budgets continue to use old trucks. It is estimated that small haulage firms presently constitute about 50–60% of the Nigerian haulage industry. These small haulage organizations range from owner operators to a few truck owners who operate on contractual basis with freight forwarders and other maritime operators. There are about 15 truck brands deployed by the trucking firms however, Mercedes, MAN Diesel, DAF, Iveco, Mack and Freightliner are the dominant ones (Eke, 2006). The country has about 3505 km of single track 1067 mm gauge railways, of which 1788 km are sharp curves. A 320 km standardgauge section of Ajaokuta-Warri line has been constructed (MITI, 2002). With regards to seaports, there are several ports conveniently classified into four major port complexes. These seaports are of vital importance to the country because a substantial portion of Nigeria’s international trade uses them. Since the freight share of rail has overtime been taken over by road, imported maritime goods are mainly transported on the major port-hinterland corridors that constitute the corridors of interest to this research.
3. The data and analytical technique The primary source of data was from a structured questionnaire administered to truck drivers. A sample comprising of 302 truck drivers sampled in the two major seaports of Lagos and Port Harcourt were selected. Available records shows that these two ports complexes account for more than 75% of cargo freight traffic in Nigeria and that these ports have the widest coverage in terms of physical distribution of goods that are hinterland bound (NPA, 2005). The truck drivers were sampled systematically by asking every fifth truck driver at the point of loading or waiting at the ports. The freight capacity of Lagos port complex, at the time of the survey reveals that, on a daily basis about 1300 trucks are loaded at Apapa Wharf while 350 trucks are loaded in Tin-Can Port from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. These two terminals comprise the major terminals of the Lagos port complex. The Port Harcourt port complex comprises of two major terminals notably the Port Harcourt and Onne ports with a combined truck loading capacity estimated to be 413 trucks. On the basis of these capacities, 5% samples from this population were taken for 3 days: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the two port complexes. The period of the fieldwork was in March and September, 2008 for Lagos and Port Harcourt port complex, respectively. Consequently, 242 and 60 truck drivers were interviewed with the questionnaire in Lagos and Port Harcourt, respectively. The questionnaire was used to elicit information on the operational characteristics of the truck drivers as well as the problems encountered in hauling freight to hinterland locations. Apart from descriptive statistics, the Kruskal–Wallis method of non-parametric test for repeated measure analysis was used to evaluate the magnitude and rank-order of the operational constraints. This method is used here to determine the rank-order of the difficulties associated with road haulage in conveying goods to hinterland destinations. Its analytical function is to compare the mean ranks for the rank-ordered problems. The K–W test is often used to detect the overall difference in distribution among the groups under con-
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sideration. The technique is ideal for analyzing data of this nature (Ugwuegbu, 2004; Morgan et al., 2004). Also, the Spearman’s correlation matrix was used to investigate the nature of the association between the pairs of the operational constraints.
25
20
4. Reliability and validity 15
A questionnaire should have high reliability and validity. Reliability is concerned with the question of whether the results of a study are repeatable and consistent (Bryman, 2008). One important reliability measure adopted by this study is the test–retest method. This approach involves administering the questionnaire on one occasion and then re-administering it to sampled truck drivers at the same place at another occasion (a month) later. The purpose is to test for the stability of the measure adopted in this research. The test result showed a high encouraging stability indicating that the measure is stable. As regards validity, it refers to how truly and accurately the quality and ability of the research method is designed to measure the phenomenon under investigation. In transport and indeed social science research, a vital method of validity is triangulation (Mentzer and Flint, 1997). This is because validation is conventionally equated with a different sort of replication called triangulation. According to Denzin and Lincoln (1998) triangulation is the use of multiple methods in the study of the same objects in order to raise the researcher above personal biases that stems from a single methodology. The triangulation technique adopted in this research involved a variety of data and investigation techniques. Data triangulation used in this study was based on the different data sources: secondary and primary. The investigating technique adopted involves employing multiple subjects (truck drivers and maritime operators) in examining the same constraints. The mixed method triangulation entails the use of two different methods in an attempt to confirm and cross-validate findings with a single study (Creswell, 2003). The maritime operators were used as intuitive checks on the responses of the truck drivers. As Mentzer and Flint (1997) suggests, multiple studies of logistics or transport phenomenon should be conducted using methods like surveys, interviews and case studies to triangulate the ‘true nature’ of the phenomenon under consideration. This reason basically underlies the research strategy adopted in this study. 5. Results and discussion 5.1. Socio-economic characteristics and areal coverage of the truck drivers In analyzing and evaluating any freight constraints of cargo haulage, there is the need to consider the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents as indicated in the survey. This information is fundamental to this study as it facilitates the understanding of a more complex analysis of data obtained from the sampled respondents. The age and length of experience of any transport operator has many significant and important implications. Some of these implications are that these variables set the limit of performance potentials of the transport industry. The biological age and length of service has close relationship with professional competence, efficiency and risk indicators of truck driving (Bashkireva and Khavinson, 2001). The age of the truck drivers sampled range between 24 and 65 years. The age is grouped into 5-year interval for ease of analysis and to conform to internationally acceptable standard classification of age. The most prominent age group among the drivers was 45–49 years accounting for 21.9% (see Fig. 1). Cumulatively however, the age groups between 30 and 59 years accounted for
% 10 Percentage
5
0 <25
25-
30-
35-
40-
45-
50-
55-
60-
29
34
39
44
49
54
59
64
65+
Fig. 1. Percentage distribution by age of the truck drivers.
90.8%. This age range indicates the most active group in the trucking business. Drivers aged below 25 and 60 years and above accounted for just 0.3% and 3.6%, respectively. The age structure of the sampled truck drivers shows a characteristic ‘‘n” distribution pattern. This finding confirms the extremely active age group involved in the trucking industry. It has often been said that, teenage drivers are inexperienced with immature judgement and have the desire to take risks (Fergusen, 2003). The reason put forward by the drivers for having majority of them falling within the ranges of 30 and 59 years was the age it takes to learn truck driving and the tedious nature of trucking. The distribution by years of trucking experience, like that of age, is an important performance parameter. Table 1 displays the length of experience of the interviewed truck drivers. As shown in the table, 31.8% of the truckers had been in the trucking business for between 10 and 14 years and 29.8% had also been in the trucking industry for between 5 and 9 years. Only 16.5% of the respondents have been driving freight trucks for 20 years or more. Drivers’ education has varied implications in the use of road as it helps drivers to understand the various road signs, traffic rules and regulations necessary for smooth operations while driving on roads. Table 2 shows that full primary school education accounted for the largest group with 26.2%. This was closely followed by some secondary school educational level with 25.5%. Indeed, the result reveals that those drivers with full secondary education and above accounted for only 20.2% of the entire drivers sampled. Furthermore those with no formal education, koranic and some primary school were 6.3%, 10.3% and 11.6%, respectively. As regards the ownership of the trucks, Fig. 2 reveals that 27 respondents (8.9%) are owner operators (drivers who own their trucks) while 275 (91.1%) are owned by some establishments.
Table 1 Distribution of drivers by years of experience. Age group No response <5 5–9 10–14 15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35+ Total
Number
Percentage
3 21 90 96 42 25 11 12 2
1.0 7.0 29.8 31.8 13.9 8.3 3.6 3.9 0.7
302
100.0
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A.E. Ubogu et al. / Journal of Transport Geography 19 (2011) 106–114 Table 2 Distribution of drivers by level of education. Level of education
Table 4 Distribution of the truckers by areal coverage of operations. Number
No formal education Koranic education Some primary education Full primary education Some secondary education Full secondary education Post secondary education Total
Percentage
19 31 35 79 77 57 4
6.2 10.3 11.6 26.2 25.5 18.9 1.3
302
100.0
Number
Percentage
Within the port city States close to the ports The entire country Nigeria and neighboring countries
66 72 133 31
21.9 23.8 44.0 10.3
Total
302
100.0
must however be mentioned that the hinterland of the sea ports extends beyond the borders of the country. This is because the two land locked countries of Niger and Chad depend partly on Nigerian sea ports for their maritime trade. 5.2. The operational difficulties of truck haulage
100 90 80 70
Percentage
Areal coverage of operations
60 50
Percentage
40 30 20 10 0 Owner Operator
Owned by Establishment
Fig. 2. Percentage distribution by ownership of trucks.
Table 3 Distribution of companies that own trucks. Companies that own the vehicles
Number
Independent haulage company Company of the importer Clearing and forwarding agent Shipping company Owned by industrial establishment
156 50 18 10 41
Percentage 56.7 18.2 6.5 3.6 14.9
Total
275
100.0
The establishments identified by the truck drivers include independent haulage companies (56.7%), company of the importer (18.2%), clearing and forwarding agents (6.5%), shipping company (3.6%) and those owned by industrial establishments (14.9%) (see Table 3). It is important to state that the small proportion that are owner operators do not typically operate with their own authority as they are registered with the cargo haulage union or a haulage company on a contract basis. There is no doubt that because the port towns serve as major industrial centres of the country, most goods usually terminate in such port towns. Table 4 also shows the areal coverage of the haulage operations. About 45.7% of the operations terminate within the port cities and the states close to the ports. These are areas that approximate some of the most industrialized zones of Nigeria. This result is similar to the findings of Onyemelukwe (1983) and Badejo (1998) that 45% of the industrial activities are located in the Lagos zone and 23% in the Port Harcourt and Calabar industrial axis. Those operators whose operations cover the entire country accounted for 44.0%. Incidentally, 10.6% of the truck drivers reported covering both Nigeria and the neighboring countries. It
The first major problem a researcher encounters in the study of truck operators constraints is to find out a way to measure operational problems. The approach this study adopted is quite simple. Geographic, and indeed, transport studies maintains that if you wish to know how an organization feels, you should ask the organization. The methodological technique adopted here is to present the list of a set of operational problems to the respondents, who are in turn asked to rank-order them according to their importance. This approach affords the researcher the opportunity to obtain the relative importance which the respondents attached to the operational problems encountered. The truck drivers interviewed were requested to rank-order the listed problems from one (1) to seven (7) so that the most important problem is ranked one (1) and the least problem is ranked number seven (7). The operational problems include pilfering, damages to goods in transit, accidents, armed robbery attack, fuel scarcity, traffic delays and congestion as well as harassment from law enforcement agents. The rank-order of the seven operational problems is displayed in Table 5 using the Kruskal–Wallis non-parametric test for repeated measure analysis. As shown in the table, harassment from law enforcement agents such as police, customs, state traffic officers, army check points and numerous taskforce emerged the most problematic operational constraint with a mean rank of 2.08. This was followed by traffic delays in the city centre (Mean rank 2.35), armed robbery attack of truck drivers in the course of their freight delivery operations (Mean rank 2.74), fuel shortage was ranked fourth (Mean rank 4.47), accidents fifth (Mean rank 4.49) and sixth pilfering (Mean rank 5.76). Damages to goods in transit trailed behind the other problems in order of magnitude with a Mean rank of 6.11. Indeed, of all the respondents who ranked the listed problems as the biggest constraint, 121 of them ranked harassment as the first. This was followed by traffic delays (96) and armed robbery attack (68). Others in the first ranked problem include fuel scarcity, pilfering and damages, respectively.
Table 5 Rank-order of operational problems encountered by the truck drivers. Operational problems
Number of respondents
Mean
Standard deviation
Pilfering Damages Accidents Armed robbery Fuel shortage Traffic delays Harassment
302 302 302 302
5.76 6.11 4.49 2.74
1.051 0.959 1.582 1.463
1 1 8 68
0.3 0.3 2.7 22.5
302 302 302
4.47 2.35 2.08
1.502 1.221 1.264
7 96 121
2.3 31.8 40.1
302
100.0
Total
Frequency
Percentage
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A.E. Ubogu et al. / Journal of Transport Geography 19 (2011) 106–114
Table 6 Mean rank values of truck drivers at Lagos and Port Harcourt seaports. Operational problems
Pilfering Damages Accidents Armed robbery Fuel shortage Traffic delays Harassment
Mean ranks by port complex Lagos
Port Harcourt
162.93 161.33 158.80 144.21 130.78 155.88 153.90
105.40 111.84 122.06 180.88 235.07 133.82 141.82
Unlike Table 5 that showed the rank-order of the first most problematic operational difficulty, Table 6 reveals the overall ranking of each constraint on the order of one (1) through to seven (7).The results as presented in Table 6 shows that Port Harcourt truck drivers significantly ranked harassment from the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Customs, Nigerian Army, Port Security officials, State Traffic Control Officers and numerous State and Local Government Task force agents (Mean = 141.82) as the most important problem than Lagos truck drivers (Mean = 153.90). The overall mean ranking by port area is in absolute values and the lower the value, the more significant is the constraint. Further examination of the three operational problems that were ranked most in order of magnitude showed that more respondents ranked them first in magnitude than in other categories. For instance, 40.1% of the respondents listed harassment from law enforcement agencies as the first major problem. Again, 35.4% ranked it second, 10.9% ranked it third, 7.0% ranked it fourth, fifth was 4.0%. Sixth and seventh position accounted for 2.3% and 0.3%, respectively (see Fig. 3). Indeed, harassment from law enforcement agents is the only problem where 40% of those who identified it ranked it as the most difficult operational problem. This observed magnitude is not surprising as harassment on Nigerian inter state highways remain a source of concern for haulage firms. The frequency of the checkpoints or ‘toll gates’ shows that it tends to decrease as distance increases away from the seaports. Harassment sometimes rears its head in the form of illegal road taxation at numerous checkpoints, where truckers and cargo owners make non-receipted payments to public agents for no obvious reasons. Aside from these numerous non-receipted payment at unofficial ‘toll gates’, the incessant stoppages causes untold delays to freight delivery operations. All these operational constraints make the transit arrangement cumbersome that adds to cost. Traffic delays was listed the second most important operational difficulty by the respondents. Out of the 302 truck drivers interviewed, 31.8% ranked it first, 23.8% ranked it second with the remaining third to seventh accounting for 27.2%, 13.6%, 2.3%, 0.7% and 0.7%, respectively. Fig. 3 also shows the percentage distri-
bution by rank-order of armed robbery attack as freight operational problem. Armed robbery attack was listed the third most important problem with 22.5% ranking it first and another 28.1% ranking it second. This signifies the insecurity associated with freight delivery operations in the country. Such attacks hamper the smooth operations of cargo delivery as consignments must be secured from the consignor to the consignee. Against the backdrop of these constraints, effective cargo distribution requires an efficient cargo haulage services to both the commercial and industrial hinterland. This includes those landlocked countries that depend on Nigerian ports for their imports. These ranked operational constraints no doubt increases the turn-around time needed to deliver consignments at destination points. Probing further, a question was put to the respondents to identify the major cause of increased turn-around time taken in the discharge of goods at destination points. Interestingly, Table 7 reveals that the largest proportion (42.1%) identified bad roads as the major cause of increased turn-around of trucks. Additionally, delays that subsequently lead to increased turn-around time occur due to poorly developed and deteriorating highways. This was followed by breakdown of vehicles (35.4%). Only 6.0%, 3.3% and 2.0% agreed that frequent stoppages at major truck stations, driving only during the day and frequent refueling along the way, respectively, were responsible for increased turn-around time. Furthermore, this study evaluated the nature and magnitude of the association between the operational problems under investigation. Table 8 shows the Spearman’s correlation matrix for the seven operational problems tagged X1 (pilfering), X2 (damages to goods), X3 (accidents), X4 (armed robbery), X5 (fuel shortage), X6 (traffic delays) and X7 (harassment from law enforcement officers). It is apparent from the correlation coefficients in the matrix table that nine pairs of the variables were significantly correlated. The strongest negative correlation, which would be considered a large effect size was between traffic delays and armed robbery attack, r = 0.599, p < 0.001. This means that truck drivers who experience traffic delays in the city centre are not likely to encounter armed robbery attack because as traffic delays increases, armed robbery attack reduces. This result is not surprising as such attacks are
Table 7 Percentage distribution of the cause of increased turn-around. The cause of increased turn-around
Frequency
Inadequate equipment discharge of goods Frequent refueling along the way Frequent stoppages at truck stations Bad roads Driving only during the day Breakdown of vehicles No response
33 6 18 127 10 107 1
Percentage 10.9 2.0 6.0 42.1 3.3 35.4 0.3
Total
302
100.0
45
Percentage
40 35
Rank 1
30
Rank 2 Rank 3
25
Table 8 Correlation matrix of association of the operational constraints. X1
Rank 4
20
Rank 5
15
X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7
Rank 6
10
Rank 7
5 0
Harassment
Delays
Armed Robbery
Fig. 3. Percentage distribution by harassment, delay and armed robbery attack.
*
1.00
p < 0.001.
X2 0.261* 1.00
X3 0.299* 0.005 1.00
X4 0.060 0.181* 0.139 1.00
X5 0.237* 0.115 0.423* 0.061 1.00
X6 0.112 0.106 0.090 0.599* 0.024 1.00
X7 0.000 0.094 0.157* 0.141 0.184* 0.340* 1.00
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not likely to take place in the city centre were such trucks pass through. In other words, armed robbery attacks on truck drivers often occur in isolated and lonely places outside the cities that the trucks pass through. Similarly, fuel scarcity was also negatively correlated with accidents (r = 0.423). By implication, the more the scarcity of fuel for truck divers to power their trucks, the lesser the occurrence of accidents. This is also expected as trucks are more likely to encounter accidents, all things being equal, when they are mobile and not idle. The correlations provide a useful integrity check on the surveyed responses. Specifically, the absence of positive correlation is not surprising as the variables under consideration seem to be inversely related. However, it is apparent that there is no consistent association between harassment from law enforcement agencies and pilfering. Consequent upon the operational constraints of cargo haul in Nigeria, transportation experts and policy makers have often made certain allusions to the remote and immediate causes of trucking bottlenecks. Indeed, one major concern that is frequently highlighted is the proliferation of legal and illegal check points. In the words of Kanawa (2007), road blocks and artificial bottlenecks on Nigerian highways results in extortion, delays, loss of man hours and general frustration. The delays in transit occasioned by frequent harassment from police, army and customs road blocks are critical instances where illegal un-receipted payments are made. This adds up to the ever increasing delivery costs of consignments destined to hinterland locations. According to Farmson (2005) it has been the practice of trucks traveling from the seaport to Kano, an important hinterland commercial city to encounter not less than between 20 legal and illegal checkpoints. Pedersen (2001) had observed that the weak points of intraAfrican transport is not shipping but the process of transshipment in the ports and increasing bottlenecks by road. The resultant effects of these bottlenecks are that road transport costs in Africa are generally high. One major contributor of these high input costs of road transport in Nigeria is incessant un-receipted payments often made by truckers and cargo owners. It is therefore not surprising to frequently see articles and cartoons in the print media portraying law enforcement officers clamouring to be posted to such check points. The prevailing level of insecurity on our highways impedes the smooth flow of consignments that are hinterland bound. A reliable transport system is as good as the safety it provides to cargoes that it handles. The safety of truck drivers and goods in transit has become a subject of prime global concern (Ubogu, 2005). Indeed, the essence of freight delivery is for goods to reach their destinations not only at the right time but also to get there safely. Presently, in Nigeria, the general insecurity on some major highways makes night driving an exception. Attacks by armed robbers on motorist and truckers are quite common in the country. Lack of security on Nigerian major highways often lead to highway organized theft, pilferage and banditry. The effect of these attacks results in total or partial loss of goods in transit, higher premium for insurance coverage (Farmson, 2005) and occasional death of truckers (Ubogu, 2001). The recurrent complaints of delays have sometimes been ascribed to the poor nature of roads in the country. The trucking industry in Nigeria has had to contend with poor maintenance of the roads which leads not only to high rates of accidents and costs of vehicle maintenance but also reducing the travel speed of vehicles (Kanawa, 2007). In a survey conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in December, 2002, it was discovered that most of the roads were in a very deplorable condition especially those in the south eastern and north western parts of the country. Similarly, the pattern was generally the same with most major roads of the country. Presently, the conditions of these roads have further dete-
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riorated especially the port-hinterland corridors of the country. The reasons often put forward to explain the poor condition of the roads include major cracks – both longitudinal and transverse, depressions and numerous potholes, broken down bridges, faulty designs, lack of drainage and thin coatings that are easily washed away, excessive use of the road network given the underdeveloped nature of the railways as well as inadequate funding all contributing to make the road transport system slow and unsafe (Oni and Okanlawon, 2006; Adesanya, 1998). Road traffic accidents are a menace to the country and the trucking industry in particular. A good measure of safety in a transport system is the degree of that transport mode’s involvement in accident. Annually, road accidents claim several thousands of lives and properties all over the world. It is also known that Nigeria ranks amongst the leading countries with the highest rate of road accidents in the world (Filani and Gbadamosi, 2007; Dos, 2008). Quite often, the road itself is cited as the prime factor (Kagu et al., 2004), which poses considerable danger to hinterland bound cargoes. The numerous bends and narrow nature of highways at some point poses serious safety constraints to road haulage of goods. For instance, the road corridor from the Lagos seaport to Kano, a nodal hinterland city is about 1200 km characterized by: approximately 250 km of modern dual carriage way from Lagos to Ibadan; 700 km of highway from Ibadan to Kaduna; and 250 km of modern dual carriageway from Kaduna to Kano. Incidentally, the danger the route poses emanates from the section of the highway between Ibadan and Kaduna occupying 55% of the total length of the trucking journey. In this section of the haulage corridor, dangerous sharp bends, undulating landscape and numerous potholes characterize that section of the road. The consequence is that trailers, trucks, tankers and containers often tilt over resulting in many accidents. It is therefore not surprising that the records of the Federal Road Safety Commission command in Mokwa, an important transit point on that route shows that between 1999 and 2007, the vehicular composition of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) in reported road traffic accident is the highest accounting for about 57% (Federal Road Safety Commission, 2008). Indeed, one of the most surprising and common causes of road haulage operational bottlenecks is the problem of fuel scarcity. Nigeria, a major oil producer, ranks 10th in the world in terms of world reserves and 9th in terms of gas reserves (Ikporukpo, 2002). The country produces more than 2 million barrels of crude oil per day. At present, there are four refineries in the country with two in Port Harcourt, one in Warri and Kaduna, respectively. The production capacity of the old Port Harcourt refinery is about 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) while the newer refinery has a capacity of 150,000 bpd. The capacities of Warri and Kaduna refineries are 125,000 and 110,000 bpd, respectively. More often than not, the refineries produce far below their installed capacities. Secondly, in view of this shortfall, the country then relies on the importation of gasoline (petrol), diesel and kerosene to augment local production. However, because petroleum products in the international market are subject to the vagaries of market forces and logistics constraints, any hitch in distribution or slight change in price disrupts the supply of fuel to users in the country. Ironically, these two factors underlie the fundamental scarcity of fuel in Nigeria.
6. Policy implications of the findings Although, government over the years has shown considerable effort in the smooth flow of goods from the seaports to the hinter-
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land, there is need to put in place pragmatic efforts at resolving the contradictions between policies of security on highways on the one hand and issues of delays occasioned by security agencies on the other hand. The multiplicity of agents and officials such as the police, army, customs, drug law enforcement agents and other state government traffic agent tends to limit the efficiency of cargo haulage. Although the intent of legal checkpoints is meaningful and worthwhile, these checkpoints constitute a serious constraint in the free flow of cargo in Nigeria. Reducing their interference on cargo movements would result in significant cost reductions and minimization of delays that invariably results in additional costs that are borne by the final consumers (Mamman, 2005; Oni, 2008). Furthermore, with the magnitude of the constraints now identified, there is need to prioritize the palliatives often put in place by successive governments of the country to reduce and if possible eliminate these operational difficulties. The present condition of port-hinterland constraints can be traced to certain remote causes that had helped to hinder the development of a reliable transport system. Early attempts to bring coordination and rationality to the transportation system of the country had been abandoned since independence in 1960. According to Ikporupko and Filani (2000) the history of Nigeria’s transport system was marked by an attempt at coordination. However, such attempts were virtually abandoned in latter years. The major reason responsible for this assertion was a reflection of the trend in actual performance of transportation function and spatial pattern of infrastructure provision. This is because the competition between the road system and other modes clearly typifies this issue. Roads by their nature, economic and social considerations ought not to be the choice of landside long haul operations. Nevertheless, with marked inter-modal disparities in public sector investments in favour of road, other modes have had to be relegated to insignificant positions (Oni and Okanlawon, 2006). The greatest attention had been given to road mode in terms of planned and actual expenditure. In fact, the railways had received less than one-fifth of the amount spent on road throughout the different plan periods from 1962 to 1996 (Ikporupko and Filani, 2000). This pattern of investment seems to have inhibited the achievement of inter-modal efficiency and equilibrium. Although, government had made some effort to redress this imbalance, much needs to be done. In December 1995, the agreement signed by the Nigerian government with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) made some effort to resuscitate and revitalize the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) (Adesanya, 1998; Odeleye, 2002). In August 2006, the government also signed another 8 billion Dollar contract with the CCECC to modernize the Nigerian railways in a 20 years programme. The first phase is to build a rail line between Nigeria’s two main commercial cities of Lagos and Kano while the second phase will link Port Harcourt with Jos. This rail development project is on a build, construct and maintain basis. This lofty effort at revamping the Nigerian railways, though commendable, should be handled with a caveat. It is important to note that for rail to win back long haul operations from trucking, there is the need to enforce axleload regulation for trucks. As indicated by Pedersen (2001), increased investments in the railroad systems can only shift the competition between rail and road traffic more in favour of the rails if axleload regulations for trucks are enforced. Other policy measures that could possibly help rail to reclaim its share of the freight traffic are rate, quantity and distance/ route regulations (Ikporupko and Filani, 2000; Olanrewaju, 1983). Rate regulation involves the fixing of rates by an agency in order to ensure that operators in a given mode do not have undue competitive advantage over operators in other modes. Rate regulation can be done either by imposing a fixed freight rate for the movement of a commodity or by specifying a minimum and maximum
rate to be charged in freighting goods. As Ikporupko and Filani (2000) suggests, the approach of quantity control concerns the control of the number of operators in a given mode or the number of vehicles each operator could own. This could be done through restrictive licensing. As regards distance/route regulation, it entails placing a limit on the distance over which a given mode could operate or specified route(s) to be operated or both. This implies specifying a predetermined distance from their base over which road vehicles are not allowed to operate beyond or by prohibiting road vehicles from some routes. One other vital development policy that would have helped to reduce most of the trucking constraints has actually been a major part of the crises. As part of the attempts to ensure smooth delivery of consignments to the hinterland, the government established several Inland Container Depots (ICDs) closer to the receivers of the freight. The first of these dry ports was established in Kano, a distance of 1200 and 1400 km from the ports of Lagos and Port Harcourt, respectively. The management of these ICDs has had to rely on trucking for the movement of cargoes. It is however sad to state that, the Kano ICD relied mainly on a single trucker for their haulage operations to the ICD (Farmson, 2005). The effective functioning of the ICDs would reduce to a reasonable level some of the constraints associated with transporting goods to hinterland locations such as the incessant harassment from law enforcement agents, traffic delays and armed robbery. As Oni (2008) laments, the introduction of ICDs in Nigeria has not produced the expected results because one principal factor inhibiting the functionality of the dry ports is the demise of the railways which led to the total dependence on road transportation. The end results are delays caused by the piece-meal loading, very slow movements and enroute breakdowns. Sector reforms programmes are also necessary in the country’s transportation system considering the dwindling resources available to government to provide effective trucking system. A governments seeking to relinquish part of its responsibilities either seek ways of passing service costs to the consumers or creating pathways through which private funds can flow into the system (Ogunsanya, 2007). This strategy can be done through three types of arrangement. One technique is Private–Public-Partnership (PPP) approach where government entrusts a private operator with long term implementation of large scale project such as road construction. Other methods that could be used include outright privatization and commercialization. The realization of the need to involve private hands in the transport sector management, government has responded by concessioning some operations of the seaports (Ndikom, 2004, 2006). However, there is need to extend such reforms to landside modes like road and rail system if their revitalization are to become a reality (Odeleye, 2002). Finally, efforts should be geared towards integrating the various transport modes in the country through a multi-modal transport system. This implies that as the modal infrastructures are developed, connecting facilities should also be provided to cater for inter-modal transfers at major terminal points. This measure will in no small measure help to alleviate the constraints of cargo trucking in the country. The policy implications arising from the findings of this study show that eliminating the interference of these illegal toll gates will ensure free movement of goods. At best, the security checkpoints should be stationed in strategic areas along the highways. This is to provide security arising from the incessant armed robbery attack on truck drivers and other motorist rather than constituting delays and harassment to truck operations. There is no doubt that effective and reliable spatial flow of cargo cannot be sustained unless the transportation corridors of the country are made safe. However, for longer haul operations, there is the need for the country to revamp and modernize its rail transport system
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in order to handle cargoes destined to the hinterland because of its comparative advantage. Rail haulage by its nature of operation is not subject to incessant checks because custom scrutinies are carried out at the port of loading and at the point of discharge. Indeed, shifting substantial amount of long haul freight share to rail will ultimately reduce the pressure on Nigerian highways. 7. Conclusion Reliable transportation of freight destined to the hinterland is essential in the development of the country. With the increasing bottlenecks associated with road haulage system, there is need to regulate truck operators to concentrate on more attractive short haul operations where road has comparative advantage. However, there is need for government to put in place measures that will substantially reduce the insecurity situation in the country. This is because the major reason adduced by government in deploying multiplicity of check points is for security reasons. In taking advantage of this, both official and unofficial check points hide under this excuse to perpetrate extortion and subsequent harassment of truck drivers which is a major obstacle to trucking. Furthermore, there is urgent need for a reformatory overhaul and modernization of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and Federal Inland Waterways (FIW) in providing efficient services in order to win back long haul operations lost to trucking. Specifically, when these measures are put in place, the country stands to benefit from the smooth flow of port-hinterland interactions. This is because most of the constraints associated with trucking would be reduced to barest minimum. Acknowledgements This research was partially funded by a grant from the University Board of Research (UBR) of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, whose support is immensely acknowledged. The contributions of numerous field assistants who helped in the administration of questionnaire are also gratefully acknowledged. References Adesanya, A., 1998. Transport development. In: Phillips, A.O., Titiola, S.T. (Eds.), Nigeria in 2010. Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, pp. 181–193. Akpogomeh, O.S., 2002. Transport and communication. In: Africa Atlas of Nigeria. Les Editions J.A., 57 bis, rue d’ Autenil, 750 16 Paris, France, pp. 106–109. Bashkireva, A.S., Khavinson, V.K., 2001. Influence of biological age on professional efficiency: communication 1. Biological age and mental efficiency. Human Physiology 27 (3), 353–359. Badejo, D., 1998. Maritime transport in the Nigerian economy. In: Badejo, D. (Ed.), Maritime Transportation in Nigeria. Rex Charles Publication, pp. 2–14. Bryman, A., 2008. Social Research Methods, third ed. Oxford University Press, New York. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 2002. Annual Reports and Statement of Accounts, December 31, 2002. Chopra, S.C., Sodhi, M.S., 2004. Managing risk to avoid supply-chain breakdown. MIT Sloan Management Review 1 (31), 124–139. Creswell, D.W., 2003. Research Design, Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, second ed. Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA. Denzin, N.K., Lincoln, Y.S., 1998. Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry. Sage Publication Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA. Digest of Transport Statistics, 2004. 2004 Edition, No. 10. Dos, G., 2008. Mortality as a result of mobility: a case study of Kaduna metropolis. Being a B.Sc. Dissertation, Department of Geography, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Eke, C., 2006. Nigeria: the Nigerian haulage industry. In: The United States Commercial Service.. Farmson, S.C., 2005. Evaluation of the operation of inland container depot: a case study of Kano I. CD. An Unpublished Masters Degree Project, Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), 2009. An Initial Assessment of Freight Bottlenecks on Highways—Executive Summary. United States Department of Transportation (downloaded 21.05.2009). .
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Journal of Transport Geography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo
Port-hinterland trucking constraints in Nigeria A.E. Ubogu *, J.A. Ariyo, M. Mamman Department of Geography, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria
a r t i c l e Keywords: Nigeria Constraints Trucking Harassment Rank-order Magnitude
i n f o
a b s t r a c t A reliable and efficient transportation system contributes immensely to growth and prosperity of a nation. Nigeria, with its vast import traffic cannot afford to transport hinterland bound cargo in a manner not consistent with reliable practices. This study seeks to evaluate the rank-order and magnitude of the operational constraints associated with cargo haulage from Nigerian seaports to the hinterland. Data were obtained from primary sources through systematic administration of a questionnaire to truck drivers at the point of waiting in the seaport terminal. In all, 302 respondents were sampled. The results of the study reveals that ‘harassment’ from law enforcement agencies ranked first (Mean = 2.08). The results also shows that the association between nine pairs of the constraints were significant with the strongest negative correlation being that of delays and armed robbery, r = 0.599, p < 0.001. These results are fundamental for the prioritization of palliative measures to improve the operational problems of trucking in Nigeria. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction In the research literature, trucking operational difficulties have been considered from different dimensions. Studies of the operating constraints of long haul trucking are usually done in conjunction with driver behaviour (Golob and Hensher, 1997; Hensher et al., 1993), accidents (Loeb and Clark, 2007), disruptions in supply chain (Wilson, 2007; Hendricks and Singhal, 2005) and cost of operations (World Bank, 2007). The general approach of the behavioural theme has been to relate the operational problems of trucking to the behavioural pattern of long distance drivers. It is argued, for instance, that truckers by their nature indulge in long distance driving and so experience sleepless nights that are fundamental for the explanations of risks and subsequent accidents (Savage, 1989). This position has, however, not gone unchallenged. Loeb and Clark (2007) commenting on accidents of truck drivers have very well acknowledged that, indeed, the miles driven on roadways, alcohol consumption by truck drivers, and age of truck drivers have been shown to be positively linked to accidents. A recent study elsewhere (FHWA, 2009) have shown that highway bottlenecks arising from delays is estimated to be caused by non-recurring congestion. The result of transitory events such as construction work zones, crashes, breakdowns, extreme weather conditions and suboptimal traffic controls are all cases of delays in freight transport delivery. Consequently, the report notes with dismay that truck delay bottlenecks increases costs to business and consumers. To other writers, their approach has been to exam* Corresponding author. Tel.: +234 8033571591. E-mail address: [email protected] (A.E. Ubogu). 0966-6923/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2009.09.001
ine trucking operational problems within the framework of supply chain, since transport performs a critical role by enabling products to be made available at locations desired by the consumers (Potter and Lalwani, 2008) and that any disruption to material flows in the supply chain results in an abrupt cessation of the movement of goods (Wilson, 2007). According to Chopra and Sodhi (2004) transportation disruptions can occur as a result of natural disasters, labour disputes, terrorist activities and infrastructure failures. These disruptions have the propensity to stop the flow of goods when such goods in transit are interrupted. Imperatively, a disruption in transportation will certainly delay the arrival of consignments at destination points. However, several studies in Nigeria (Oni, 2000; Oni and Okanlawon, 2006; Ubogu, 2005; World Bank, 2007) suggest that poor roads, narrow bridges, menace of armed robbery on highways, harassment by security officials, touting, delays occasioned by traffic congestion, outright non-delivery of consignments consequent upon accidents, shortage or scarcity of fuel, incessant vehicle breakdown and traffic hold-up in the city centres are some of the operational difficulties confronting cargo haulage in the country. Quite often, commentators have identified poor quality of roads as a major drawback for trucking of consignments, in spite of the fact that, road haulage has been and still remains the most favoured mode for the movement of cargo (Oni, 2008). Unfortunately, this transport sub-sector is dominated by a large number of small-scale operators with most of the transport outfits not equipped with road worthy trucks. Other problems include overloading and the resultant damage to roads, poor vehicle maintenance which is a factor of the incessant breakdown of vehicles as well as numerous police check points. Some operational difficulties
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can be viewed within the context of the characteristics that are basic to all services: price, average transit time of delivering cargo to destination points, loss of goods in transit as well as damages to goods (Somuyiwa and Dosunmu, 2008). It is therefore not surprising that UNCTAD (1993) asserted that the transit time of freight to penetrate the hinterland in Nigeria is alarming. This is because it is much easier to move cargo from Europe to Nigeria than it is to move it to the hinterland. These numerous operational clogs coupled with traffic congestion, by no small means, increases the delays associated with cargo delivery. Furthermore, some goods do not reach their final destination. One major aspect that has been missing from these various studies in Nigeria has been the order and magnitude of the constraints. Indeed, the constraints on trucking operations have received only limited coverage in the oft cited works on long haul trucking. Previous studies on trucking operations have not sought to explicitly quantify the magnitude of the operational problems, though the nature of the clogs in long haul cargo distribution have been implied. The fact that most of the analyses of the different studies were undertaken in countries where the road haulage industry is under varying levels of regulation suggests that the identified problems might not yield identical results. This is because the economic regulation of rates, entry and standard of practice influences the operating practices of the industry (Harper and Johnson, 1987). The trucking industry in Nigeria is unregulated with no specific legal restrictions on entry into the industry (Olanrewaju, 1983). The fundamental purpose of this paper is to evaluate the order and magnitude of a subset of the operational problems on Nigeria’s two major port-hinterland corridors. Several factors were taken into consideration in the selection of the study sites. The first factor is the relative accessibility of the ports to import cargo. The Lagos and Port Harcourt port complexes dominate ocean shipping activities in Nigeria. Both complexes account for more than 75% of the shipping activities in Nigeria. The Lagos ports complex alone handles over 60% of the nation’s total import traffic while the Rivers port complex handles about 15% of the total traffic handled (NPA, 2004). Therefore, such ports are indirectly centres of haulage, trucking activities, bridging firms, and petroleum pipeline distribution centres as well as railway termini that engage in the transportation of goods to the hinterland. Applying rank-ordered technique, this study determines the order of the operational constraints facing the smooth operations of cargo delivery from the seaports to the hinterland.
2. The study area Roads provide by far the most important mode of transport in Nigeria. The highways in the country generally account for about 70% of the movement of goods and persons in the country (Akpogomeh, 2002). This is largely attributed to the natural advantage provided by the existence of vast land mass in Nigeria, when compared with waterways, and perhaps the inadequate attention being given to the rail system (Adesanya, 1998). The major cities, including the 36 states capitals and the federal capital are connected to each other by a network of two-lane highways; with some main connections being of four-lane, dual carriageway type. The road network in the south-western and south-eastern parts of the country is much denser than in the rest of Nigeria due to higher population densities (MITI, 2002, p. 109). Generally, the roads are classified into trunk A, B, and C roads constructed, managed and owned by the three tiers of government. Essentially, trunk A roads are the responsibility of the federal government (Digest of Transport Statistics, 2004) the majority of which are the paved highways of the country. Presently, some of the roads are in deplorable condition in most parts of the country (Oni and Okanlawon, 2006).
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The Nigerian road haulage industry has developed tremendously over the past 15–20 years. This is the growing reliance on road transportation and the relegation of rail in long haul freight transport. Incidentally, there are no reliable statistics on the size of the total truck market in Nigeria but it is estimated that the country’s trucking market is about 10,000–15,000 units annually (Eke, 2006). According to the National Bureau of Statistics (2006) the total registered land transport establishments are 742 including trucking firms. While well established road haulage providers operate with new and fairly new used trucks, smaller companies with lean budgets continue to use old trucks. It is estimated that small haulage firms presently constitute about 50–60% of the Nigerian haulage industry. These small haulage organizations range from owner operators to a few truck owners who operate on contractual basis with freight forwarders and other maritime operators. There are about 15 truck brands deployed by the trucking firms however, Mercedes, MAN Diesel, DAF, Iveco, Mack and Freightliner are the dominant ones (Eke, 2006). The country has about 3505 km of single track 1067 mm gauge railways, of which 1788 km are sharp curves. A 320 km standardgauge section of Ajaokuta-Warri line has been constructed (MITI, 2002). With regards to seaports, there are several ports conveniently classified into four major port complexes. These seaports are of vital importance to the country because a substantial portion of Nigeria’s international trade uses them. Since the freight share of rail has overtime been taken over by road, imported maritime goods are mainly transported on the major port-hinterland corridors that constitute the corridors of interest to this research.
3. The data and analytical technique The primary source of data was from a structured questionnaire administered to truck drivers. A sample comprising of 302 truck drivers sampled in the two major seaports of Lagos and Port Harcourt were selected. Available records shows that these two ports complexes account for more than 75% of cargo freight traffic in Nigeria and that these ports have the widest coverage in terms of physical distribution of goods that are hinterland bound (NPA, 2005). The truck drivers were sampled systematically by asking every fifth truck driver at the point of loading or waiting at the ports. The freight capacity of Lagos port complex, at the time of the survey reveals that, on a daily basis about 1300 trucks are loaded at Apapa Wharf while 350 trucks are loaded in Tin-Can Port from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. These two terminals comprise the major terminals of the Lagos port complex. The Port Harcourt port complex comprises of two major terminals notably the Port Harcourt and Onne ports with a combined truck loading capacity estimated to be 413 trucks. On the basis of these capacities, 5% samples from this population were taken for 3 days: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the two port complexes. The period of the fieldwork was in March and September, 2008 for Lagos and Port Harcourt port complex, respectively. Consequently, 242 and 60 truck drivers were interviewed with the questionnaire in Lagos and Port Harcourt, respectively. The questionnaire was used to elicit information on the operational characteristics of the truck drivers as well as the problems encountered in hauling freight to hinterland locations. Apart from descriptive statistics, the Kruskal–Wallis method of non-parametric test for repeated measure analysis was used to evaluate the magnitude and rank-order of the operational constraints. This method is used here to determine the rank-order of the difficulties associated with road haulage in conveying goods to hinterland destinations. Its analytical function is to compare the mean ranks for the rank-ordered problems. The K–W test is often used to detect the overall difference in distribution among the groups under con-
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sideration. The technique is ideal for analyzing data of this nature (Ugwuegbu, 2004; Morgan et al., 2004). Also, the Spearman’s correlation matrix was used to investigate the nature of the association between the pairs of the operational constraints.
25
20
4. Reliability and validity 15
A questionnaire should have high reliability and validity. Reliability is concerned with the question of whether the results of a study are repeatable and consistent (Bryman, 2008). One important reliability measure adopted by this study is the test–retest method. This approach involves administering the questionnaire on one occasion and then re-administering it to sampled truck drivers at the same place at another occasion (a month) later. The purpose is to test for the stability of the measure adopted in this research. The test result showed a high encouraging stability indicating that the measure is stable. As regards validity, it refers to how truly and accurately the quality and ability of the research method is designed to measure the phenomenon under investigation. In transport and indeed social science research, a vital method of validity is triangulation (Mentzer and Flint, 1997). This is because validation is conventionally equated with a different sort of replication called triangulation. According to Denzin and Lincoln (1998) triangulation is the use of multiple methods in the study of the same objects in order to raise the researcher above personal biases that stems from a single methodology. The triangulation technique adopted in this research involved a variety of data and investigation techniques. Data triangulation used in this study was based on the different data sources: secondary and primary. The investigating technique adopted involves employing multiple subjects (truck drivers and maritime operators) in examining the same constraints. The mixed method triangulation entails the use of two different methods in an attempt to confirm and cross-validate findings with a single study (Creswell, 2003). The maritime operators were used as intuitive checks on the responses of the truck drivers. As Mentzer and Flint (1997) suggests, multiple studies of logistics or transport phenomenon should be conducted using methods like surveys, interviews and case studies to triangulate the ‘true nature’ of the phenomenon under consideration. This reason basically underlies the research strategy adopted in this study. 5. Results and discussion 5.1. Socio-economic characteristics and areal coverage of the truck drivers In analyzing and evaluating any freight constraints of cargo haulage, there is the need to consider the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents as indicated in the survey. This information is fundamental to this study as it facilitates the understanding of a more complex analysis of data obtained from the sampled respondents. The age and length of experience of any transport operator has many significant and important implications. Some of these implications are that these variables set the limit of performance potentials of the transport industry. The biological age and length of service has close relationship with professional competence, efficiency and risk indicators of truck driving (Bashkireva and Khavinson, 2001). The age of the truck drivers sampled range between 24 and 65 years. The age is grouped into 5-year interval for ease of analysis and to conform to internationally acceptable standard classification of age. The most prominent age group among the drivers was 45–49 years accounting for 21.9% (see Fig. 1). Cumulatively however, the age groups between 30 and 59 years accounted for
% 10 Percentage
5
0 <25
25-
30-
35-
40-
45-
50-
55-
60-
29
34
39
44
49
54
59
64
65+
Fig. 1. Percentage distribution by age of the truck drivers.
90.8%. This age range indicates the most active group in the trucking business. Drivers aged below 25 and 60 years and above accounted for just 0.3% and 3.6%, respectively. The age structure of the sampled truck drivers shows a characteristic ‘‘n” distribution pattern. This finding confirms the extremely active age group involved in the trucking industry. It has often been said that, teenage drivers are inexperienced with immature judgement and have the desire to take risks (Fergusen, 2003). The reason put forward by the drivers for having majority of them falling within the ranges of 30 and 59 years was the age it takes to learn truck driving and the tedious nature of trucking. The distribution by years of trucking experience, like that of age, is an important performance parameter. Table 1 displays the length of experience of the interviewed truck drivers. As shown in the table, 31.8% of the truckers had been in the trucking business for between 10 and 14 years and 29.8% had also been in the trucking industry for between 5 and 9 years. Only 16.5% of the respondents have been driving freight trucks for 20 years or more. Drivers’ education has varied implications in the use of road as it helps drivers to understand the various road signs, traffic rules and regulations necessary for smooth operations while driving on roads. Table 2 shows that full primary school education accounted for the largest group with 26.2%. This was closely followed by some secondary school educational level with 25.5%. Indeed, the result reveals that those drivers with full secondary education and above accounted for only 20.2% of the entire drivers sampled. Furthermore those with no formal education, koranic and some primary school were 6.3%, 10.3% and 11.6%, respectively. As regards the ownership of the trucks, Fig. 2 reveals that 27 respondents (8.9%) are owner operators (drivers who own their trucks) while 275 (91.1%) are owned by some establishments.
Table 1 Distribution of drivers by years of experience. Age group No response <5 5–9 10–14 15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35+ Total
Number
Percentage
3 21 90 96 42 25 11 12 2
1.0 7.0 29.8 31.8 13.9 8.3 3.6 3.9 0.7
302
100.0
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A.E. Ubogu et al. / Journal of Transport Geography 19 (2011) 106–114 Table 2 Distribution of drivers by level of education. Level of education
Table 4 Distribution of the truckers by areal coverage of operations. Number
No formal education Koranic education Some primary education Full primary education Some secondary education Full secondary education Post secondary education Total
Percentage
19 31 35 79 77 57 4
6.2 10.3 11.6 26.2 25.5 18.9 1.3
302
100.0
Number
Percentage
Within the port city States close to the ports The entire country Nigeria and neighboring countries
66 72 133 31
21.9 23.8 44.0 10.3
Total
302
100.0
must however be mentioned that the hinterland of the sea ports extends beyond the borders of the country. This is because the two land locked countries of Niger and Chad depend partly on Nigerian sea ports for their maritime trade. 5.2. The operational difficulties of truck haulage
100 90 80 70
Percentage
Areal coverage of operations
60 50
Percentage
40 30 20 10 0 Owner Operator
Owned by Establishment
Fig. 2. Percentage distribution by ownership of trucks.
Table 3 Distribution of companies that own trucks. Companies that own the vehicles
Number
Independent haulage company Company of the importer Clearing and forwarding agent Shipping company Owned by industrial establishment
156 50 18 10 41
Percentage 56.7 18.2 6.5 3.6 14.9
Total
275
100.0
The establishments identified by the truck drivers include independent haulage companies (56.7%), company of the importer (18.2%), clearing and forwarding agents (6.5%), shipping company (3.6%) and those owned by industrial establishments (14.9%) (see Table 3). It is important to state that the small proportion that are owner operators do not typically operate with their own authority as they are registered with the cargo haulage union or a haulage company on a contract basis. There is no doubt that because the port towns serve as major industrial centres of the country, most goods usually terminate in such port towns. Table 4 also shows the areal coverage of the haulage operations. About 45.7% of the operations terminate within the port cities and the states close to the ports. These are areas that approximate some of the most industrialized zones of Nigeria. This result is similar to the findings of Onyemelukwe (1983) and Badejo (1998) that 45% of the industrial activities are located in the Lagos zone and 23% in the Port Harcourt and Calabar industrial axis. Those operators whose operations cover the entire country accounted for 44.0%. Incidentally, 10.6% of the truck drivers reported covering both Nigeria and the neighboring countries. It
The first major problem a researcher encounters in the study of truck operators constraints is to find out a way to measure operational problems. The approach this study adopted is quite simple. Geographic, and indeed, transport studies maintains that if you wish to know how an organization feels, you should ask the organization. The methodological technique adopted here is to present the list of a set of operational problems to the respondents, who are in turn asked to rank-order them according to their importance. This approach affords the researcher the opportunity to obtain the relative importance which the respondents attached to the operational problems encountered. The truck drivers interviewed were requested to rank-order the listed problems from one (1) to seven (7) so that the most important problem is ranked one (1) and the least problem is ranked number seven (7). The operational problems include pilfering, damages to goods in transit, accidents, armed robbery attack, fuel scarcity, traffic delays and congestion as well as harassment from law enforcement agents. The rank-order of the seven operational problems is displayed in Table 5 using the Kruskal–Wallis non-parametric test for repeated measure analysis. As shown in the table, harassment from law enforcement agents such as police, customs, state traffic officers, army check points and numerous taskforce emerged the most problematic operational constraint with a mean rank of 2.08. This was followed by traffic delays in the city centre (Mean rank 2.35), armed robbery attack of truck drivers in the course of their freight delivery operations (Mean rank 2.74), fuel shortage was ranked fourth (Mean rank 4.47), accidents fifth (Mean rank 4.49) and sixth pilfering (Mean rank 5.76). Damages to goods in transit trailed behind the other problems in order of magnitude with a Mean rank of 6.11. Indeed, of all the respondents who ranked the listed problems as the biggest constraint, 121 of them ranked harassment as the first. This was followed by traffic delays (96) and armed robbery attack (68). Others in the first ranked problem include fuel scarcity, pilfering and damages, respectively.
Table 5 Rank-order of operational problems encountered by the truck drivers. Operational problems
Number of respondents
Mean
Standard deviation
Pilfering Damages Accidents Armed robbery Fuel shortage Traffic delays Harassment
302 302 302 302
5.76 6.11 4.49 2.74
1.051 0.959 1.582 1.463
1 1 8 68
0.3 0.3 2.7 22.5
302 302 302
4.47 2.35 2.08
1.502 1.221 1.264
7 96 121
2.3 31.8 40.1
302
100.0
Total
Frequency
Percentage
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A.E. Ubogu et al. / Journal of Transport Geography 19 (2011) 106–114
Table 6 Mean rank values of truck drivers at Lagos and Port Harcourt seaports. Operational problems
Pilfering Damages Accidents Armed robbery Fuel shortage Traffic delays Harassment
Mean ranks by port complex Lagos
Port Harcourt
162.93 161.33 158.80 144.21 130.78 155.88 153.90
105.40 111.84 122.06 180.88 235.07 133.82 141.82
Unlike Table 5 that showed the rank-order of the first most problematic operational difficulty, Table 6 reveals the overall ranking of each constraint on the order of one (1) through to seven (7).The results as presented in Table 6 shows that Port Harcourt truck drivers significantly ranked harassment from the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Customs, Nigerian Army, Port Security officials, State Traffic Control Officers and numerous State and Local Government Task force agents (Mean = 141.82) as the most important problem than Lagos truck drivers (Mean = 153.90). The overall mean ranking by port area is in absolute values and the lower the value, the more significant is the constraint. Further examination of the three operational problems that were ranked most in order of magnitude showed that more respondents ranked them first in magnitude than in other categories. For instance, 40.1% of the respondents listed harassment from law enforcement agencies as the first major problem. Again, 35.4% ranked it second, 10.9% ranked it third, 7.0% ranked it fourth, fifth was 4.0%. Sixth and seventh position accounted for 2.3% and 0.3%, respectively (see Fig. 3). Indeed, harassment from law enforcement agents is the only problem where 40% of those who identified it ranked it as the most difficult operational problem. This observed magnitude is not surprising as harassment on Nigerian inter state highways remain a source of concern for haulage firms. The frequency of the checkpoints or ‘toll gates’ shows that it tends to decrease as distance increases away from the seaports. Harassment sometimes rears its head in the form of illegal road taxation at numerous checkpoints, where truckers and cargo owners make non-receipted payments to public agents for no obvious reasons. Aside from these numerous non-receipted payment at unofficial ‘toll gates’, the incessant stoppages causes untold delays to freight delivery operations. All these operational constraints make the transit arrangement cumbersome that adds to cost. Traffic delays was listed the second most important operational difficulty by the respondents. Out of the 302 truck drivers interviewed, 31.8% ranked it first, 23.8% ranked it second with the remaining third to seventh accounting for 27.2%, 13.6%, 2.3%, 0.7% and 0.7%, respectively. Fig. 3 also shows the percentage distri-
bution by rank-order of armed robbery attack as freight operational problem. Armed robbery attack was listed the third most important problem with 22.5% ranking it first and another 28.1% ranking it second. This signifies the insecurity associated with freight delivery operations in the country. Such attacks hamper the smooth operations of cargo delivery as consignments must be secured from the consignor to the consignee. Against the backdrop of these constraints, effective cargo distribution requires an efficient cargo haulage services to both the commercial and industrial hinterland. This includes those landlocked countries that depend on Nigerian ports for their imports. These ranked operational constraints no doubt increases the turn-around time needed to deliver consignments at destination points. Probing further, a question was put to the respondents to identify the major cause of increased turn-around time taken in the discharge of goods at destination points. Interestingly, Table 7 reveals that the largest proportion (42.1%) identified bad roads as the major cause of increased turn-around of trucks. Additionally, delays that subsequently lead to increased turn-around time occur due to poorly developed and deteriorating highways. This was followed by breakdown of vehicles (35.4%). Only 6.0%, 3.3% and 2.0% agreed that frequent stoppages at major truck stations, driving only during the day and frequent refueling along the way, respectively, were responsible for increased turn-around time. Furthermore, this study evaluated the nature and magnitude of the association between the operational problems under investigation. Table 8 shows the Spearman’s correlation matrix for the seven operational problems tagged X1 (pilfering), X2 (damages to goods), X3 (accidents), X4 (armed robbery), X5 (fuel shortage), X6 (traffic delays) and X7 (harassment from law enforcement officers). It is apparent from the correlation coefficients in the matrix table that nine pairs of the variables were significantly correlated. The strongest negative correlation, which would be considered a large effect size was between traffic delays and armed robbery attack, r = 0.599, p < 0.001. This means that truck drivers who experience traffic delays in the city centre are not likely to encounter armed robbery attack because as traffic delays increases, armed robbery attack reduces. This result is not surprising as such attacks are
Table 7 Percentage distribution of the cause of increased turn-around. The cause of increased turn-around
Frequency
Inadequate equipment discharge of goods Frequent refueling along the way Frequent stoppages at truck stations Bad roads Driving only during the day Breakdown of vehicles No response
33 6 18 127 10 107 1
Percentage 10.9 2.0 6.0 42.1 3.3 35.4 0.3
Total
302
100.0
45
Percentage
40 35
Rank 1
30
Rank 2 Rank 3
25
Table 8 Correlation matrix of association of the operational constraints. X1
Rank 4
20
Rank 5
15
X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7
Rank 6
10
Rank 7
5 0
Harassment
Delays
Armed Robbery
Fig. 3. Percentage distribution by harassment, delay and armed robbery attack.
*
1.00
p < 0.001.
X2 0.261* 1.00
X3 0.299* 0.005 1.00
X4 0.060 0.181* 0.139 1.00
X5 0.237* 0.115 0.423* 0.061 1.00
X6 0.112 0.106 0.090 0.599* 0.024 1.00
X7 0.000 0.094 0.157* 0.141 0.184* 0.340* 1.00
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not likely to take place in the city centre were such trucks pass through. In other words, armed robbery attacks on truck drivers often occur in isolated and lonely places outside the cities that the trucks pass through. Similarly, fuel scarcity was also negatively correlated with accidents (r = 0.423). By implication, the more the scarcity of fuel for truck divers to power their trucks, the lesser the occurrence of accidents. This is also expected as trucks are more likely to encounter accidents, all things being equal, when they are mobile and not idle. The correlations provide a useful integrity check on the surveyed responses. Specifically, the absence of positive correlation is not surprising as the variables under consideration seem to be inversely related. However, it is apparent that there is no consistent association between harassment from law enforcement agencies and pilfering. Consequent upon the operational constraints of cargo haul in Nigeria, transportation experts and policy makers have often made certain allusions to the remote and immediate causes of trucking bottlenecks. Indeed, one major concern that is frequently highlighted is the proliferation of legal and illegal check points. In the words of Kanawa (2007), road blocks and artificial bottlenecks on Nigerian highways results in extortion, delays, loss of man hours and general frustration. The delays in transit occasioned by frequent harassment from police, army and customs road blocks are critical instances where illegal un-receipted payments are made. This adds up to the ever increasing delivery costs of consignments destined to hinterland locations. According to Farmson (2005) it has been the practice of trucks traveling from the seaport to Kano, an important hinterland commercial city to encounter not less than between 20 legal and illegal checkpoints. Pedersen (2001) had observed that the weak points of intraAfrican transport is not shipping but the process of transshipment in the ports and increasing bottlenecks by road. The resultant effects of these bottlenecks are that road transport costs in Africa are generally high. One major contributor of these high input costs of road transport in Nigeria is incessant un-receipted payments often made by truckers and cargo owners. It is therefore not surprising to frequently see articles and cartoons in the print media portraying law enforcement officers clamouring to be posted to such check points. The prevailing level of insecurity on our highways impedes the smooth flow of consignments that are hinterland bound. A reliable transport system is as good as the safety it provides to cargoes that it handles. The safety of truck drivers and goods in transit has become a subject of prime global concern (Ubogu, 2005). Indeed, the essence of freight delivery is for goods to reach their destinations not only at the right time but also to get there safely. Presently, in Nigeria, the general insecurity on some major highways makes night driving an exception. Attacks by armed robbers on motorist and truckers are quite common in the country. Lack of security on Nigerian major highways often lead to highway organized theft, pilferage and banditry. The effect of these attacks results in total or partial loss of goods in transit, higher premium for insurance coverage (Farmson, 2005) and occasional death of truckers (Ubogu, 2001). The recurrent complaints of delays have sometimes been ascribed to the poor nature of roads in the country. The trucking industry in Nigeria has had to contend with poor maintenance of the roads which leads not only to high rates of accidents and costs of vehicle maintenance but also reducing the travel speed of vehicles (Kanawa, 2007). In a survey conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in December, 2002, it was discovered that most of the roads were in a very deplorable condition especially those in the south eastern and north western parts of the country. Similarly, the pattern was generally the same with most major roads of the country. Presently, the conditions of these roads have further dete-
111
riorated especially the port-hinterland corridors of the country. The reasons often put forward to explain the poor condition of the roads include major cracks – both longitudinal and transverse, depressions and numerous potholes, broken down bridges, faulty designs, lack of drainage and thin coatings that are easily washed away, excessive use of the road network given the underdeveloped nature of the railways as well as inadequate funding all contributing to make the road transport system slow and unsafe (Oni and Okanlawon, 2006; Adesanya, 1998). Road traffic accidents are a menace to the country and the trucking industry in particular. A good measure of safety in a transport system is the degree of that transport mode’s involvement in accident. Annually, road accidents claim several thousands of lives and properties all over the world. It is also known that Nigeria ranks amongst the leading countries with the highest rate of road accidents in the world (Filani and Gbadamosi, 2007; Dos, 2008). Quite often, the road itself is cited as the prime factor (Kagu et al., 2004), which poses considerable danger to hinterland bound cargoes. The numerous bends and narrow nature of highways at some point poses serious safety constraints to road haulage of goods. For instance, the road corridor from the Lagos seaport to Kano, a nodal hinterland city is about 1200 km characterized by: approximately 250 km of modern dual carriage way from Lagos to Ibadan; 700 km of highway from Ibadan to Kaduna; and 250 km of modern dual carriageway from Kaduna to Kano. Incidentally, the danger the route poses emanates from the section of the highway between Ibadan and Kaduna occupying 55% of the total length of the trucking journey. In this section of the haulage corridor, dangerous sharp bends, undulating landscape and numerous potholes characterize that section of the road. The consequence is that trailers, trucks, tankers and containers often tilt over resulting in many accidents. It is therefore not surprising that the records of the Federal Road Safety Commission command in Mokwa, an important transit point on that route shows that between 1999 and 2007, the vehicular composition of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) in reported road traffic accident is the highest accounting for about 57% (Federal Road Safety Commission, 2008). Indeed, one of the most surprising and common causes of road haulage operational bottlenecks is the problem of fuel scarcity. Nigeria, a major oil producer, ranks 10th in the world in terms of world reserves and 9th in terms of gas reserves (Ikporukpo, 2002). The country produces more than 2 million barrels of crude oil per day. At present, there are four refineries in the country with two in Port Harcourt, one in Warri and Kaduna, respectively. The production capacity of the old Port Harcourt refinery is about 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) while the newer refinery has a capacity of 150,000 bpd. The capacities of Warri and Kaduna refineries are 125,000 and 110,000 bpd, respectively. More often than not, the refineries produce far below their installed capacities. Secondly, in view of this shortfall, the country then relies on the importation of gasoline (petrol), diesel and kerosene to augment local production. However, because petroleum products in the international market are subject to the vagaries of market forces and logistics constraints, any hitch in distribution or slight change in price disrupts the supply of fuel to users in the country. Ironically, these two factors underlie the fundamental scarcity of fuel in Nigeria.
6. Policy implications of the findings Although, government over the years has shown considerable effort in the smooth flow of goods from the seaports to the hinter-
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land, there is need to put in place pragmatic efforts at resolving the contradictions between policies of security on highways on the one hand and issues of delays occasioned by security agencies on the other hand. The multiplicity of agents and officials such as the police, army, customs, drug law enforcement agents and other state government traffic agent tends to limit the efficiency of cargo haulage. Although the intent of legal checkpoints is meaningful and worthwhile, these checkpoints constitute a serious constraint in the free flow of cargo in Nigeria. Reducing their interference on cargo movements would result in significant cost reductions and minimization of delays that invariably results in additional costs that are borne by the final consumers (Mamman, 2005; Oni, 2008). Furthermore, with the magnitude of the constraints now identified, there is need to prioritize the palliatives often put in place by successive governments of the country to reduce and if possible eliminate these operational difficulties. The present condition of port-hinterland constraints can be traced to certain remote causes that had helped to hinder the development of a reliable transport system. Early attempts to bring coordination and rationality to the transportation system of the country had been abandoned since independence in 1960. According to Ikporupko and Filani (2000) the history of Nigeria’s transport system was marked by an attempt at coordination. However, such attempts were virtually abandoned in latter years. The major reason responsible for this assertion was a reflection of the trend in actual performance of transportation function and spatial pattern of infrastructure provision. This is because the competition between the road system and other modes clearly typifies this issue. Roads by their nature, economic and social considerations ought not to be the choice of landside long haul operations. Nevertheless, with marked inter-modal disparities in public sector investments in favour of road, other modes have had to be relegated to insignificant positions (Oni and Okanlawon, 2006). The greatest attention had been given to road mode in terms of planned and actual expenditure. In fact, the railways had received less than one-fifth of the amount spent on road throughout the different plan periods from 1962 to 1996 (Ikporupko and Filani, 2000). This pattern of investment seems to have inhibited the achievement of inter-modal efficiency and equilibrium. Although, government had made some effort to redress this imbalance, much needs to be done. In December 1995, the agreement signed by the Nigerian government with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) made some effort to resuscitate and revitalize the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) (Adesanya, 1998; Odeleye, 2002). In August 2006, the government also signed another 8 billion Dollar contract with the CCECC to modernize the Nigerian railways in a 20 years programme. The first phase is to build a rail line between Nigeria’s two main commercial cities of Lagos and Kano while the second phase will link Port Harcourt with Jos. This rail development project is on a build, construct and maintain basis. This lofty effort at revamping the Nigerian railways, though commendable, should be handled with a caveat. It is important to note that for rail to win back long haul operations from trucking, there is the need to enforce axleload regulation for trucks. As indicated by Pedersen (2001), increased investments in the railroad systems can only shift the competition between rail and road traffic more in favour of the rails if axleload regulations for trucks are enforced. Other policy measures that could possibly help rail to reclaim its share of the freight traffic are rate, quantity and distance/ route regulations (Ikporupko and Filani, 2000; Olanrewaju, 1983). Rate regulation involves the fixing of rates by an agency in order to ensure that operators in a given mode do not have undue competitive advantage over operators in other modes. Rate regulation can be done either by imposing a fixed freight rate for the movement of a commodity or by specifying a minimum and maximum
rate to be charged in freighting goods. As Ikporupko and Filani (2000) suggests, the approach of quantity control concerns the control of the number of operators in a given mode or the number of vehicles each operator could own. This could be done through restrictive licensing. As regards distance/route regulation, it entails placing a limit on the distance over which a given mode could operate or specified route(s) to be operated or both. This implies specifying a predetermined distance from their base over which road vehicles are not allowed to operate beyond or by prohibiting road vehicles from some routes. One other vital development policy that would have helped to reduce most of the trucking constraints has actually been a major part of the crises. As part of the attempts to ensure smooth delivery of consignments to the hinterland, the government established several Inland Container Depots (ICDs) closer to the receivers of the freight. The first of these dry ports was established in Kano, a distance of 1200 and 1400 km from the ports of Lagos and Port Harcourt, respectively. The management of these ICDs has had to rely on trucking for the movement of cargoes. It is however sad to state that, the Kano ICD relied mainly on a single trucker for their haulage operations to the ICD (Farmson, 2005). The effective functioning of the ICDs would reduce to a reasonable level some of the constraints associated with transporting goods to hinterland locations such as the incessant harassment from law enforcement agents, traffic delays and armed robbery. As Oni (2008) laments, the introduction of ICDs in Nigeria has not produced the expected results because one principal factor inhibiting the functionality of the dry ports is the demise of the railways which led to the total dependence on road transportation. The end results are delays caused by the piece-meal loading, very slow movements and enroute breakdowns. Sector reforms programmes are also necessary in the country’s transportation system considering the dwindling resources available to government to provide effective trucking system. A governments seeking to relinquish part of its responsibilities either seek ways of passing service costs to the consumers or creating pathways through which private funds can flow into the system (Ogunsanya, 2007). This strategy can be done through three types of arrangement. One technique is Private–Public-Partnership (PPP) approach where government entrusts a private operator with long term implementation of large scale project such as road construction. Other methods that could be used include outright privatization and commercialization. The realization of the need to involve private hands in the transport sector management, government has responded by concessioning some operations of the seaports (Ndikom, 2004, 2006). However, there is need to extend such reforms to landside modes like road and rail system if their revitalization are to become a reality (Odeleye, 2002). Finally, efforts should be geared towards integrating the various transport modes in the country through a multi-modal transport system. This implies that as the modal infrastructures are developed, connecting facilities should also be provided to cater for inter-modal transfers at major terminal points. This measure will in no small measure help to alleviate the constraints of cargo trucking in the country. The policy implications arising from the findings of this study show that eliminating the interference of these illegal toll gates will ensure free movement of goods. At best, the security checkpoints should be stationed in strategic areas along the highways. This is to provide security arising from the incessant armed robbery attack on truck drivers and other motorist rather than constituting delays and harassment to truck operations. There is no doubt that effective and reliable spatial flow of cargo cannot be sustained unless the transportation corridors of the country are made safe. However, for longer haul operations, there is the need for the country to revamp and modernize its rail transport system
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in order to handle cargoes destined to the hinterland because of its comparative advantage. Rail haulage by its nature of operation is not subject to incessant checks because custom scrutinies are carried out at the port of loading and at the point of discharge. Indeed, shifting substantial amount of long haul freight share to rail will ultimately reduce the pressure on Nigerian highways. 7. Conclusion Reliable transportation of freight destined to the hinterland is essential in the development of the country. With the increasing bottlenecks associated with road haulage system, there is need to regulate truck operators to concentrate on more attractive short haul operations where road has comparative advantage. However, there is need for government to put in place measures that will substantially reduce the insecurity situation in the country. This is because the major reason adduced by government in deploying multiplicity of check points is for security reasons. In taking advantage of this, both official and unofficial check points hide under this excuse to perpetrate extortion and subsequent harassment of truck drivers which is a major obstacle to trucking. Furthermore, there is urgent need for a reformatory overhaul and modernization of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and Federal Inland Waterways (FIW) in providing efficient services in order to win back long haul operations lost to trucking. Specifically, when these measures are put in place, the country stands to benefit from the smooth flow of port-hinterland interactions. This is because most of the constraints associated with trucking would be reduced to barest minimum. Acknowledgements This research was partially funded by a grant from the University Board of Research (UBR) of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, whose support is immensely acknowledged. The contributions of numerous field assistants who helped in the administration of questionnaire are also gratefully acknowledged. References Adesanya, A., 1998. Transport development. In: Phillips, A.O., Titiola, S.T. (Eds.), Nigeria in 2010. Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, pp. 181–193. Akpogomeh, O.S., 2002. Transport and communication. In: Africa Atlas of Nigeria. Les Editions J.A., 57 bis, rue d’ Autenil, 750 16 Paris, France, pp. 106–109. Bashkireva, A.S., Khavinson, V.K., 2001. Influence of biological age on professional efficiency: communication 1. Biological age and mental efficiency. Human Physiology 27 (3), 353–359. Badejo, D., 1998. Maritime transport in the Nigerian economy. In: Badejo, D. (Ed.), Maritime Transportation in Nigeria. Rex Charles Publication, pp. 2–14. Bryman, A., 2008. Social Research Methods, third ed. Oxford University Press, New York. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 2002. Annual Reports and Statement of Accounts, December 31, 2002. Chopra, S.C., Sodhi, M.S., 2004. Managing risk to avoid supply-chain breakdown. MIT Sloan Management Review 1 (31), 124–139. Creswell, D.W., 2003. Research Design, Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, second ed. Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA. Denzin, N.K., Lincoln, Y.S., 1998. Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry. Sage Publication Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA. Digest of Transport Statistics, 2004. 2004 Edition, No. 10. Dos, G., 2008. Mortality as a result of mobility: a case study of Kaduna metropolis. Being a B.Sc. Dissertation, Department of Geography, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Eke, C., 2006. Nigeria: the Nigerian haulage industry. In: The United States Commercial Service.
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