I have read a number of postings on this Transport and Haulage business, and I am developing some interests. However there is a little problem because what I have read here on Nairaland is about all the information that I have on the operation of truck transport business in Nigeria. The conclusion has always been that other than bad roads (which most of us dont have control over) the problems facing the business are bad/greedy drivers and poor maintenance of the trucks.

Since I dont have much knowledge about Nigerian manufacturing terrain, I want to seek advice from those that are in the business on where will be an ideal location for a truck repair facility. Maybe I should put it this way, what are the important factors that you will consider when looking for where to service/repair your truck?

I remember seeing a number of truck broken-down by the roadside years ago, and I am wondering if the average truck owner/company regularly service the trucks or wait till they breakdown and then start looking for technical assistance.
How often does your trucks breakdown by the roadside?
Will you be willing to pay for a maintenance contract or you will prefer to fix the problems whenever they occur?

I will also appreciate any information from current operators on the things that they will like to see or experience from a truck repair facility.


Knowing that truck-driver training takes some hours of classroom training and about 20 road lessons over a period of 4 to 6 weeks (at least here in the western world) for a medically fit individual that can drive a car, I am wondering what will be the challenges of an outfit whose goal is to train truck drivers in Nigeria?

Are there any other problems; i.e getting Commercial Drivers License, getting accepted by the truck-owners/driver-association, drivers doing drugs, or people are just not interested in driving truck in Nigeria?

I will appreciate repair/maintenance related contributions from anyone that have good visibility into the operations of the truck transport business in Nigeria.

Please click to see how you can Manage your Haulage or Fleet business with ease https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-376333.0.html

Hello Kafin,

for all you need to know about Haulage, quickly dash to : "Free training on Haulage Business in Nigeria". It is a thread that i just started in Nairaland forum. type in the topic at google and you will land on platform.

Bump

@KAFIN, your write was interesting. I wish to point it straightaway that the orientation of an average truck driver on maintanance culture is very poor. This may be due to the literacy level of the drivers coupled with their non-challant attitude until the truck breaks down.

Unfortunately, when these trucks break down on the highways,they constitute danger to the public and ironically the owners would spend so much to tow it away or to pay fines if towed away by LASMA in Lagos.

A modern facility for the repairs of trucks would have been ideal, but unlike smaller cars that can be managed to a mechanics garage,trucks especially when loaded can not be managed much for safety reasons.

Another major point is that most trucks working for Major Marketers are owned by private individuals who have different approach to how trucks should be serviced/maintained although most of the marketers have minimum benchmarks for their trucks.
It will interest you that most of the trucks on our roads are without Goods -in - Transit Insurance in case of any incident and a typical driver's mate or motorboy who is yet to handle the steering is already with a driver's licence. Things will change with time.

Apapa is the base of most depots hence the concentration of truck mechanics there.It may take a yeoman's job to convince them to patronise a modern garage. An average driver readily believes that a modern facility would be too expensive and would not condone some of their sharp practices.

I believe that as our society moves forward, their is also the need to modernise our processes but our people are a bit resistant to change. This should not discourage you if you have something in the pipeline for the future.

Thanks.

@Neighbour
Thanks for your time and contribution, you have provided valuable information.

If most of the present owners/drivers will only be interested in servicing the truck when it breaks down, this will make truck-servicing a very expensive venture; getting one of those big rigs that is capable of towing a truck is no joke.

Interesting read ups. Much thanks to all contributors for their useful and practical information.
Can someone shed some light on the standard procedure of attaching an oil tanker (33000lts) to a Transporter with an independent oil marketing company (Conoil/Oando)?
What's the average pay from the transporter to the owner?
Are contracts used as a general standard to guard against breeches from the transporter?
Is it a fact that the owner need not worry about managing the driver and repairs on the vehicle that is attached to the transporter?

Cheers,

The standard procedure for attaching trucks to most major marketers differ from marketer to marketer.
Oando,Mobil,Total, Conoil,M.R.S (formerly Chevron Nig. plc) and A.P are Major Marketers and not Independent Marketers as contained in your write-up.
The Independent Marketers are individual Nigerians having one or more service stations e.g Rain Oil, Beco, Eternal Oil,Energy, Nipco. Some of these Marketers are sometimes regarded as Mini-Majors because of the number of their stations.
From my experience as a former employee of one of the Majors, each transporter is expected to have a minimum of ten sound trucks, hence most of the transporters are encouraged to merge to become stronger and better organised. Most marketers have minimum benchmark/standards before a truck can be accepted into their system hence formal inspection of the truck would be carried out before acceptance.
However, trucks are graded into A and B, but transporters are encouraged to have grade A trucks which are neater and more corporate with the brand color of the marketer concerned as most major marketers insist that the truck must be painted in their color for advert and easy identification.
You have to really analyse the pros and coins of a contract before you append your signature, however I dont think any transporter would take more than 5% for attachment because he is the one recognised by the Marketer and cheques will be issued on his company's name.
Transport rates differ from company to company but the difference is not much as these rates are periodically reviewed.
Well, contract breeches do happen depending on your agreement with the transporter and also how far you can monitor him especially when it is time for payment.
On the maintenance of the truck and the driver, It depends on your formal agreement with the transporter because the parent transporter will be held responsible for any negative activities done with the trucks under his company so sometimes the transporter might insist on providing the driver whom he feels he can handle, this should not be a rigid position. It is negotiable but you are responsible for the maintenance of your truck and the payment of the salary of the driver and any other issue like shortage issues.

However, most independent marketers have trucks being used by them and also hired out to third parties. You can walk into any of their offices and discuss truck attachment with them and the rates applicable. All the best of luck.

@NEIGHBOUR

Bro: what more can I ask for? I appreciate your time and useful information as detailed in your response. A friend of mine has two trucks attached to a Transporter for one of the majors and is talking to me about getting in.
Thanks for clarifying some nagging concerns I had.
In this case, I will source for 2 Mack RD model trucks (95 - 99) and also source for where to rent tanks for N50k or </month. He has the connection with a transporter who will cut me a cheque for about N300K/month net of all expenses.
Will this be a fair deal?

Cheers,

@Grazza
Haulage business is lucrative. 300k net monthly is not a bad deal but why do you want to go for Mack Trucks as a starter? I prefer a DAF Truck for a starter like you because it is easy to maintain,parts are available/cheap and the truck head of Daf is cheaper than Mack. Mack trucks are too expensive to maintain. However mack trucks are stronger than Daf trucks in terms of carriage.
A word of advice, please monitor the drivers very well or else they will just be using the truck for illegal deals that you are not aware of. You can employ a manager to help you monitor the trucks if you can afford it.
You can also install a tracker to monitor their movement. All the best of luck.

@NEIGHBOUR

Thanks yet again for your swift response. When the forex conversion is taken into consideration, the Mack trucks turn out cheaper in the short run. I suppose this is as the case you mentioned in your initial response that the transporter may seek to protect his name and investment with the major by opting to handle driver wahala and truck maintenance based on an agreed upon deduction from my cheque.
JIC (just in case) will u happen to know a reliable and trustworthy manager?

Cheers,

@Grazza, good morning. I will advise you to make a write-up like a small advert in a paper format,make some photocopies and drop in any of the depots in Apapa or Nupeng offices. The response will be unbelievable. I can help with sorting and subsequent interview/selection. It is not a big deal. Anybody you decide to employ must bring a referee who will also stand for him. Have a nice weekend.

@NEIGHBOUR

Thanks for your time. A quick question for u: Besides the business of providing transportation for hauling petroleum products in general, are there other serious profit making ventures in downstream market? I ask because of your knowledge and experience in this field.
We can discuss that offline if you so desire.

Cheers,

well , as  preferred  by  you, i  can  be  reached  on 08035964052.  surely  there  are  other  business opportunities  in  the  downstream  sector  that  you  can  have  some  profit although  every  dick and  harry  is  now  into  oil  and  gas. but integrity  is  paramount . dont    join  the  ''get  rich  quick group''  who  go  about  mixing  products  and  supplying  low  quality  products  to  their   customers thereby   destroying  their  values.  regards  sir.

@NEIGHBOUR

Thanks for sending across your contact. Will hit u in the near future. Let it b known: I do not believe in any get rich quick scheme and will discourage such. I am a believer in hard and smart work coupled with trusting the Almighty for all good things. Common sense goes a long way in giving any man the edge he/she needs in life.

@Grazza, Please I didn't mean any harm with my comment and it was not meant to cast aspersion on your integrity. I made the comment based on the notion held by many people about making money in the downstream Sector. Please dont be offended. Please call me.

@NEIGHBOUR

You were not in anyway insulting. What u mentioned is the bitter truth and I respect your candid opinion. I just wanted to drop my two cents as well.
Let our focus remain on how we can assist one another in this forum by disseminating useful and tested information that can place our feet on the right path.
I am tied up at the moment, but will give u a call in due course as mentioned earlier.

Kindest Cheers,

@Grazza,
Thanks for your comments. Please send your e- mail to my phone so that I can forward my write-up on the other business opportunities in the downstream sector to you for your perusal.
Regards.

@NEIGHBOUR

Do pardon my slow response. I was caught attending to some personal issue and was not chanced to log on However, I am back at work and will appreciate it if you correspond via grazzathinks@yahoo.com regarding our previous discussion.
Stay blessed.

Cheers,

@ Neighbour,

Kindly send the manual to my box also. I am presently testing the waters with DPK which a fellow NLander produced a manual for. My email ad is kay_lamp@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

@NEIGHBOUR

I am someone planning to move into active haulage business, I was reading your write-up when I saw that you wrote that trucks are graded into A and B; please could you be kind enough to describe me truck A and truck B technically and other wise.

Cheers

THE GRADE 'A' TRUCKS ARE THE NEW AND ALMOST NEW TRUCKS THAT CARRY SPECIALLY BUILT OR IMPORTED TANKS FOR THE SOLE LIFTING OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS. THE TANKS ARE FULLY ARMOURED THAT IF THEY FALL,THE PRODUCT WILL NOT SPILL OR CAUSE ANY FIRE(THE PRODUCT WILL BE INTACT). THEN THE GRADE 'B' TRUCKS ARE THE NORMAL TRUCKS THAT ARE STILL IN VERY GOOD SHAPE WHICH MAY NOT CARRY ANY SPECIAL TANKS BUT WELL BUILT , SOLID AND NEAT IN OUTLOOK.

@NEIGHBOUR

Thank you for the explanation I really appreciate, then seen the safety and the financial benefits tankers built outside provide in case of accident on road, I feel that it is better to buy a tanker truck new or not from Europe than to buy a truck head from EU and build its tank in Nigeria. What do you say and why people prefer to build tanks in Nigeria.


Cheers,

I  still  hold  the  belief   that  as  our  country  continues  to  match  forward  in  terms  of  tech and   engineering,Nigerian  built  Tanks  will  compare  favourably  with  the  imported  tanks.  The  imported  tanks  are  not  tropicalised  to  our  salty  enviroment  hence  corrosion  easily  set  in. Also  because  of  the  present  economic  crunch,transporters will go for tanks that are not too expensive.  We  will  surely  get  there.

I am presently looking for a reputable company that can handle my truck(NO STORIES), it’s a box truck that is used for haulage business(goods).  I would like to know the following info on the business/company.
•   How much should I be expecting
•   Is the payment monthly or weekly(I prefer weekly)
•   Who take care of the maintainers
•   How is my truck and money secured plus any other important information i need to know
plz if you have any information on how to manage my truck email me at pcmadu@yahoo.com
Thanks.

I am presently looking for a reputable company that can handle my truck(NO STORIES), it’s a box truck that is used for haulage business(goods). I would like to know the following info on the business/company.
• How much should I be expecting
• Is the payment monthly or weekly(I prefer weekly)
• Who take care of the maintainers
• How is my truck and money secured plus any other important information i need to know
plz if you have any information on how to manage my truck email me at pcmadu@yahoo.com
Thanks.

We have experienced the great services of star distribution system. This company is not only depending on common carriers or transportations services, Warehousing facilities, pool distribution, LTL also included with its services.
Miami Pool Distribution

Comercial bus operators are being shortchanged by the drivers, none remitance of money to the owners, the buses are mismanaged,over used,and yet the owners hardly get the money invested, most owners are looking for someone who can manage the buses for them and remit to them in the shortest possible time return on investment, so most have resolved to give out the buses,on lease purchase,even at that the buses given out dont bring the money.
After taking the bus on lease purchase the driver will remit for some few weeks and then story upon stories by then the drivers would have raked in some few thousand and would have overused the vehicle and dump it, to go look for the next victim.
Our company have experience in the management of commercial bus, we have qualified proffesionals who have driven commercial buses around the Lagos metropolis with vast knowledge of this lucrative business,honesty and integrity is our watchword.
When you come to us our team of specialist would advise you on the kind of bus to buy,before buying, we have on ground with you our technicians who will check the bus properly and make sure it is in ship shape,the bus would be serviced and all faulty parts would be replaced.
Our modus operandi is to get your account details and remit the agreed amount to your account every Friday,this is the same amount that is paid by normal drivers,but where we differ from them is the company takes responsibility for minor repairs which would take nothing from your normal weekly delivery.
The bus would start work by 5:30 am and close by 5:30 pm,unlike your regular danfo driver that work the bus from dawn to dusk,our drivers pass through rigorous screening process before they are employed and knowing the mentality of the normal danfo drivers we are able to curb any of their excesses.
Save yourself the agony of danfo drivers who care little or nothing, nor have your interest at heart contact us today and you would be glad you did.
Contact address
Amonota filling station LASU Ojo road,
Iba Town.
Tel:08088868719
E-mail:gigangltd@gmail.com

Please be wary of this guy called Ekitikan (also uses ‘Gade’ on this forum). He is a fraudster! I am talking from personally experience after responding to one of his adverts on Nairaland. A word is enough for the wise!!

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