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ABSTRACT
The research examines the implication of Nigeria’s lopsided land transport structure for performance and efficiency in the freight transport sector using the Lagos–Kano corridor as a case study. A comparative analysis of road and rail performance in freight transport using defined performance indicators shows that road transport performed better on all but two indicators, namely, freight ton-kilometres moved per vehicle hour travelled and throughput per unit of energy consumed. Other performance indicators such as absolute throughput of freight, freight ton-kilometres performed, speed, freight throughput per unit cost of operation and revenue per ton of freight moved favoured roads over rail. Clearly, rail comparative advantage relates to capacity, but freight shippers are looking for speed that shortens vehicle turnaround time. The lesson is that freight shippers will not explore modal comparative advantages (such as capacity and lower freight rates) except such advantages are complemented with competitiveness conferred by technology (especially speed).
Supplemental data
Supplemental data for this paper can be accessed on the publisher’s website.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. In Nigeria, sea ports are a significant hub for freight and represent the origin of many freight shipments. They will therefore feature as originating nodes in the study methodology.
2. This is a maximum potential capacity measure – assuming full capacity of the most commonly used road/rail vehicles and given the average vehicle speed that subsists for road/rail, what is the freight-ton km achieved per hour travelled on the corresponding road/rail corridors?
3. This was generated during field survey.
4. The subgroup of the association consisting business units involved in the haulage of dry cargo.
5. The instruments used for data collection are given in the Appendix.
6. Allowance given for 15 non-working days in a year owing to truck down times or observed holidays.
7. A line of coupled wagons and coaches.
8. 15 wagons weighing 40 tons each.
9. An NRC official mentioned that freight movements on the narrow gauge depend on locomotive availability.
10. Other arrangements (apart from scheduled train services) by companies or customers to move freight.
1 Other arrangements (apart from scheduled train services) by companies or customers to move freight