The use of an electronic call-up system in batching port-bound trucks using the Eto App has reduced the cost of moving cargo from the port to the importers’ warehouses by 65 percent in two years, Trucks Transit Parks Ltd (TTP), a mobility technology company that developed Eto App, has said.
Richard Emenim, head of development at TTP, told journalists in Lagos recently in an event to mark the second anniversary of the Eto App, that before the introduction of an electronic call-up, the cost of moving containers from Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports was at a minimum of N1.2 million but today, it has declined to about N420,000 per container.
According to him, Eto has successfully reduced traffic around the port corridors, resulting in a significant improvement in the average turnaround time for port-bound trucks from two weeks before the Eto to three days today.
Listing other achievements of the electronic call-up system, he said the improvement has provided significant cost savings to businesses and improved the competitiveness of the Nigerian economy.
“TTP has made a profound impact on the logistics and transportation industries by delivering new solutions that streamline the cargo movement process, reduce port congestion, and improve the overall efficiency of port operations. It has also digitally managed the movement of over 1,165,000 port and non-port-bound trucks in two years,” he explained.
Emenim said that about 85,000 trucks have registered on Eto while 10,498 persons now use Eto and 90 parks are electronically connected to the electronic call-up system.
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Listing some of the challenges impeding the success of the electronic call-up, he said dilapidated access roads within the Apapa and Tin-Can Ports and multiple road construction along the Tin-Can axis have been hindering the effectiveness of the call-up system.
He further said that extortion and illegal collection of fees from trucks and truck owners as well as indiscriminate parking of trucks at pre-gates and on port access roads in search of terminal delivery orders (TDOs) have been impeding the success of the call-up.
He also said that transporters also collude with operators to pre-gate their trucks by proxy in order to circumvent the Eto laid down procedure for truck movement.
Emenim further said that tank farms and oil and gas trucks have been impeding the movement of port and manufacturing trucks within the Apapa Port city.
Speaking virtually, Jama Onwubuariri, managing director & co-founder of TTP, said the inability to control tankers lifting petroleum products from the tank farms, explains why many oil and gas tankers still queue on the port corridors contributing to the road congestion within Apapa.
The queue on roads and bridges leading to the tank farms, according to him, results in pockets of congestion on the port access road despite the fact that electronic call-up has significantly improved traffic of port-bound trucks within the Apapa metropolis in the last two years.
He however assured that there are a series of ongoing engagements with the relevant agencies of governments and authorities to ensure that oil and gas tankers, which constitute about 30 percent of daily truck traffic in Apapa, come onboard the Eto call-up system.
