Riding on its successful outing last year, Primeport Logistics is set to deepen its market share in the cargo clearing business at Port Harcourt International Airport by hauling at least 1.5 million kilos of cargo this 2015.
The new cargo clearing firm, which hauled a total of 500,000 kilos of cargo in 2014, says it is optimistic of achieving the new target owing to its existing structures and growing customer base.
In a recent chat with journalists in Port Harcourt, Femi Adewunmi, managing director, Primeport Logistics, says the firm is set to capitalise on its established structures to explore opportunities within the local environment, having created formidable partnerships with some foreign freight forwarders already.
“As part of our strategies to leverage on the huge potential in this market, we will be introducing freight forward software to process our import documents and by extension boost efficiency of our services, Adewunmi says, adding that his firm will also boost its current capacity to meet the set target.
Cargo clearing at Port Harcourt International Airport has been tipped by industry watchers as a goldmine worth N5 billion with only very few informal operators handling the 17.5 million kilos of cargo annually imported directly through the airport.
However, despite these immense opportunities, stakeholders in the cargo clearing section of the airport have been plagued by series of challenges such as lack of communication tools, ineffective communication, etc.
These shortcomings, Primeport Logistics recently aimed to tackle by distributing 25 new walking-talking to various stakeholders in the cargo section of the airport.
The firm says it is optimistic that the communication gadgets will not only speed up cargo clearing by easing some existing bureaucratic process but should also boost efficient service delivery through the cargo clearing value chain in the airport.
On his firm’s reason for the gesture, Adewunmi says that after a careful study of the challenges bedevilling the smooth flow of cargo clearing at the airport, it was discovered that the enormous time consumed in tallying cargo at the airport needed to be dwarfed.
“The first process in the clearing process is tallying. Unfortunately, this consumes so much time; sometimes as much as 24 hours due to ineffective communication and lack of communication tools among the stakeholders,” the managing director says, adding that this setback prompted his firm to take up the challenge of providing the 25 new walking-talking to various stakeholders in the airport.
Receiving some of the gadgets for his unit, Harry Samuel, command public relations officer, Nigerian Customs Service, praised Adewunmi for such gesture, saying “one of our challenges in managing cargo hauling at this airport has been lack of synergy and ineffective communication process. However, we believe these gadgets will help us surmount these challenges going forward.”
ODINAKA MBONU
