Managing Director/CEO of PrimePort Logistics, a cargo service company, Mr. Femi Adewunmi in this interview says the coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed the sub-sector; saying that cargo freighting will move online post COVID-19 and may lead to the phasing out of clearing agents. Chinedu Eze brings the excerpts:This COVID-19 situation has really impacted on every aspect of our lives, every aspect of business; it has affected the world in an unexpected way.
There will be integrated systems, so as the shipment is leaving UK, for example, it is already integrated into the Nigerian system. So there is already visibility. The way the terminal people make money before and start-raising invoice is not going to be happening anymore. There is going to be integration, so as you are paying for your goods, you can pay for the terminal as well. Everything is all integrated, it becomes like an ARP system.
I am going to be very honest, there is nothing wrong per say with the infrastructure we currently have at the airports. Of course, you are right that it can be optimised. Of course, you are right that some of the equipment and some of the infrastructure are not for these things. You are very right to say that the capacity that we are meant to be doing when it was planned, those infrastructure are not what is being used for. We have more cargo now than we ever used to have.
Then you have the customer and nobody is focusing on them. And everybody needs to be focusing on them. So the processes are all geared towards each other’s interest not the customer’s interest. So that is why you find that things are slow, things are missing, things are delayed, that is why you find corruption and that is why you find all sorts of things. This is because everybody wants to own each part to be able to leverage to have vested interests.