PRICE SHOULD BE CHARGED PER KILOMETER IN NIGERIA’S TRUCK INDUSTRY

Charging for the movement of goods within the haluage industry especially in Nigeria is a very dicey financial matrix. It varies from one operator to another and from one company to the other. For instance some companies calculate their cost of transportation by “per tonnage” while others pay by the “trucks’ body size carrying-capacity”, others simply by “discretion” based on experience and common practice with the industry.

Be it by tonnage rate, carrying-capacity indices, or by discretion, I am of the opinion that these indicators cannot all be right model to arrive at the most rational cost for transporting goods from one place to another in the haulage industry. The question to ask is what are the factors considered in arriving at the price? If the factors considered were to be right then the prices will be universal for the same trucks with the same carrying capacity, consuming same fuel volume, plying the same route “irrespective of the nature of goods carried” so far the tonnage is the same. It is on this basis that i suggest that charging should be based on per Kilometer basis, since 1 kilometer is the same here in Nigeria or Singapore or Toronto and any other place across the globe.

I know you might take me up on the issue regarding the “irrespective of the nature of goods carried” highlighted. If for example a 15tns truck which carries a consumable goods like Milk or another that carries a flammable gas it is assumed that the truck carrying the flammable gas needs to be paid higher. The question to ask is why? If both trucks carries the same tonnage of lets say 10tonnes, what that means is that its the same pressure that will be applied on the tyres and engine respectively. The only difference could should be intended distance to be travelled and the scheduling of movement whether at night, morning or afternoon, either ways the fact remains that the truck will consume the almost same fuel and exhibit the same pressure on tyres and the engine.

Just an illustration, if all trucks carrying a 10tonnes gets N100 for 1km or for 15tonnes gets N150 per Km at the same cost of diesel/fuel then if Truck A of 10tns load goes to a distance of 10km he simply gets N1000 for her trip and if Truck B carrying a 15tns load goes to a distance of 150km then he gets N22,500. It is assumed that a truck of the same engine capacity should consume almost the same fuel for the same distance, anything short of that means something is fundamentally with the engine of the truck.

 

 Charging “per kilometer rate” for me will ensure fairness and equity in price fixing. It will also help to bring about transparency, make price control in the industry seamless. It will help in making price universal within the industry. However to achieve this, stakeholders in the haulage industry will have to come together to agree on a price tag for each categories of trucks per kilometer movement. Some specific factors needs to be considered in fixing the price e.g the diesel cost and range, cost per tonnage of production (irrespective of the goods), road tax (official or unofficial) etc.

It is time that operators in the industry began to regulate the price in a universally transparent manner so that it can encourage new investors to come into the industry irrespective of the cost of diesel per time.

Please kindly feel free to give your comment or suggestion. Thanks for reading