NRC urged on trains connecting Kaduna dry port

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has been urged to quickly provide more wagons and locomotives to the Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP) to improve the evacuation of cargoes from the seaports to the dry port.

This was part of a communique issued at the end of a one-day seminar to discuss ways the federal government should intervene in rescuing the KIDP from its challenges in order to boost its performance and improve the level of cargo delivery through the port to enhance business activities in the North.

The General Manager of KIDP, Rotimi Hassan, urged the federal government to make an executive order to compel shipping lines to work with all dry ports in Nigeria to achieve the objective of port decongestion and provide shipping services to all shippers in geopolitical areas of Nigeria.

According to him, there is also need for the “provision of more rail wagons and locomotives by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) with a special intervention from the presidency in putting priority into rail cargo movement to reduce pressure on our major roads and improve rail delivery to enhance mass cargo movement to and from seaports to Kaduna Inland Dry Port and other coming up dry ports in Nigeria.”

The participants also called on the federal government to ensure that shipping companies commenced the issuance of throughput bills of lading to cargoes destined for Kaduna Inland Dry Port and other dry ports to come on stream.

They also appealed to the Kaduna State Government to expedite action to ensure the completion of the dry port’s access road in order to improve seamless movement of cargo.