Why Cargo Planes Fly Near Empty In Nigeria –Experts

The Federal Government has been urged to focus on expanding other underutilised airports across the country with a view to incorporating a cargo section to improve air cargo transportation within and outside Nigeria. Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Calabar, and Port Harcourt are the leading cargo centers in Nigeria.

Chairman, Boff and Company Insurance Brokers Limited, Babajide Olatunde-Agbeja, made the appeal while speaking to Aviation Metric at the just concluded Aviation and Cargo symposium christened: “CHINET 2021,” held in Lagos.

Frowning at the situation where many cargo planes fly into Nigeria daily and fly out near empty because of the huge dependence on oil, he stated that the role of the aviation industry is to facilitate trade, tourism, and consumer welfare, stressing that these should be focused by the Nigerian aviation sector for improved services.

To make air cargo the preferred means of shipping of goods, Olatunde-Agbeja noted that transactions at all airports should be standardised, taxes and levies reduced, touting eradicated to attract serious-minded businesses to spring up.

He, however, lamented that the volume of business was too low for economies of scale, premium wise, noting that government should provide long-term, low-interest-rate loans for present operators to expand their business and to encourage new ones to spring up in the interest of Nigerians.

According to him, Nigeria ports, especially in Lagos, used to be a beehive. Now, it is no longer so. Imports have remained very low because of the restrictive policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria and this is sending shock waves to all sectors of the economy

At the ports, no importer wants to burn his fingers importing what he cannot sell because of the high exchange rate, he said.

Clearing agents, whose job is mainly cargo movement, have been thrown out of a job because of little or no cargo to clear  Looking at the number of Nigerians involved in this business, it is obvious that if the trend continues, there will be trouble in the land.

These, according to experts, have led to the low volume of air cargo in the country.

Also, private terminal operators, otherwise known as concessionaires, operating at the nation’s seaports, are facing difficulties in their operations as the cargo volumes they handle continue to decline.

The hardship faced by the operators is compounded by the inability of most of them to procure dollars to meet their foreign currency obligation.

The inability of the government to generate the required foreign exchange to oil the wheel of the economy posed a great challenge, reports say.

Olatunde-Agbejasaid: “Air cargo is our next golden income in Nigeria. The earlier we realise it and implement a smooth process of exporting goods and commodities, the better for our economy.

“Aviation cargo operators are of the opinion that cargo business is much less tedious than the passenger-carrying sector, as the headache that comes with having passengers as clients is non-existent. The fastest, safest, and best form of transportation is by air and this needs to be developed immediately, to ease the much-needed export drive.”

He equally lamented a situation where many exporters prefer to transport their goods and farm produce by road to neighboring countries due to the cost of alternate transportation, which he said increases their risk, describing road transport as the riskiest form of mass transportation.

Speaking on the roles of insurance in the cargo business, Olatunde-Agbeja reiterated that insurance brokers first canvass the market for the best rates, terms, and conditions, determine which insurance company would lead, seek to know what proportion each insurance company would accommodate (including the capacity provided by their reinsurance treaty) and collate all submissions.

“Where this is short of 100 percent, they apply for an AIP from NAICOM then place the excess abroad, through an international reinsurance broker,” he added.

Wole Shadare