Airlines Lost 70% Cargos To Sea Operators

There has been a drop in cargo operations in the country, the President, Association of Foreign Airlines Representatives of Nigeria, Mr Kingsley Nwokoma, has said.

He said most importers had decided to ferry their cargoes through the sea which he noted was cheaper and less stressful than through airfreight.

According to him, cargo import through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos has dropped by 70 per cent.

He said, “If you look at the cargo airlines that were coming into Nigeria, the number has gone down primarily because of the economy. We know that airfreight is quite expensive. What most big firms and companies do these days is that they plan ahead long-term and send most of their cargo through sea freighting.

“We don’t have to just sit down and allow most customers go to the sea. We also have to restrategise and see how we can get these customers back. We still have issues with the ease of doing business. How easy is this ease of doing business?”

He explained that the present administration talked about making the business environment at the airport easy so that both passengers and even the cargo agents could send their shipments without going through hassles.

Nwokoma, however, stated that nothing had been done, adding that there was a need to improve on the ease of doing business.

“Statically, we were doing 30 per cent of what we used to do. There is a loss of 70 per cent of inbound cargo and we also see that apart from the scheduled airlines whose aircraft bring cargo, main cargo aircraft has declined. Those that were coming three to four times a week are barely doing one cargo trip a week now; and even at that, the flight is always half full,” he said.

He said efforts should be channelled towards building new cargo warehouses, adding that charges should be reviewed.

Nwokoma said cargo ramp expansion should be carried out without delay as the existing one was built in the 1970s for the Boeing 707 aircraft.