•Our export system, yet to develop

American Airsea Cargo CEO, Uduka Udeh

By Moses Nosike

Uduka Udeh is the CEO, American Airsea Cargo Limited. It is a total logistics company that makes logistics services easy for individuals, small businesses and corporation organisations at an affordable rate despite the cost of running a logistics business in the country today.

In this interview with Nosike Moses, the young CEO who said that the company basically runs Shoptomydoor narrated major challenges of the logistics industry in Nigeria even as he advised the government to provide enabling environment for the sector to thrive especially in export.

Excerpts:

American Airsea Cargo Limited, what is their space in Nigerian economy?

What we are trying to do is to create an opportunity for people, especially small businesses and individuals to have access to products from the US, and not just the US but anywhere in the world.

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Our base is in the US. It is not just having access to products from outside but we are trying to create an opportunity where small businesses and individuals can tap into export opportunities, have the ability to export items from here to the US mainly and other parts of the world. So, that really is what we are trying to do.

We saw a huge opportunity in the export market and that is one area we are trying to build. For import market, there are still a lot of challenges surrounding it, things that could be improved especially with the use technology and that is where we are trying to focus on, bringing technology into the shipping business.

Basically, who needs your service or your targetted audience globally?

American Airsea Cago as a group has two main service offerings. One is called, the simplified corporate logistics which is used by companies that have more defined and stringent shipping needs than individuals and smaller businesses.

While Shoptomydoor is reserved for individuals and small businesses because it doesn’t matter the size of what you are bringing, be it a shoe, cage etc. Shoptomydoor is there to take care of that category.

You have cited technology as one of the challenges in the shipping industry, what other challenges?

One of the biggest issues in this environment is the infrastructure. We all knew it since the past decades, and have been complaining of infrastructure deficit in Nigeria.

We keep saying it will get better but actually it is getting worse. Let me tell you a little about how bad the infrastructure situation. Now to ship the biggest size of a container, 40ft from the US to Nigeria will cost the range of $4,000 which is about N1.4m.

Just one container which is a reasonable price is not the best pricing when you consider that shipping from China to the US, the same container costs about $1,500 to $1,700.

The reason for it is that most ships coming into Nigeria have to go empty and because they are going empty, they are basically charging both ways.

That tells you too that if we can grow our export potential whereby ships that are coming in here are always fully loaded outside, the overall cost of doing business will reduce. But that was not where I was going.

So you have that $4,000 as the cost to bring in a container from the US to Nigeria. Now to get that container out of the port from Tin Can Port or whatever Port to our office here in Ajao Estate will cost you around $4,000 to $6,000.

So it is more expensive to ship a container over five thousand miles or seven thousand miles from the US compared to shipping that container less than 10 miles from the Port to here. It is a very sad situation.

Is it just the container we are talking about, let us look at air service; when you are shipping an item from our Atlanta or Houston office to Nigeria takes within 3 days, the clearing process because of the type of facilities and the processes at the airport will take another 2 days. So, while is taking between 2-3 days to bring it in, you are also taking 2 days to clear it up from the Port.

God helps that the customer you are trying to sell the items is in the north, especially these Boko Haram ravaged areas, you hardly get any logistic companies willing to go there now.

Even if they are going to go there, they go in a group with security and they do those ones in a week or two weeks.

That goes to tell you the impact the infrastructure is having. A lot of companies are afraid to do a long haulage service because anywhere along the road, the Fulani herdsmen or Boko Haram may come out from the bush to do the menace that is becoming pervasive all over the country.

The biggest challenge is infrastructure, and security is almost topping the list.

However, if we have a government that is listening and that is willing to do things right, they will basically change the landscape.
Again, let us talk about export.

There is huge potentials for making tiles in Nigeria, and with such potentials, you have companies that are making tiles and these are heavy items; so moving those tiles from places they are produced like Ogun is difficult because is of the heavy nature and because of that very few trucks are willing to carry it, majorly because of the condition of the roads.

At this juncture, don’t you think that collaboration with government of the day can improve the situation on ground, especially in logistic sector, or what can government do?

Let me give you an example. Our office here at Ajao estate, a lot of companies had wanted to come together to tar the road linking it, local government officials will come and seize your truck and machineries and tell you that it is their duty to tar the road, that you should give them the money to tar it.

And a lot of times, either they don’t tar it or the quality of the work they do is horrible. You asked what can the government do. If the government wants individuals to come in, they should provide enabling environment that makes it easy for individuals to come.

Again, the government should put appropriate legislation in place that would make it easy for people to invest.

A lot of things are going wrong, I don’t know whether it is poor leadership or inability of the leadership to do what they are ought to do.

But that is where we found ourselves. If they can enable individuals, given them incentives so that if I want to tar a given stretch of road I can get some tax rebate. Those things would help.

At this point, can you say your company has impacted on your targetted audience?

The audience is huge, I would not say we have reached all the people we want to reach, but I know we have impacted a lot of people.

For instance, I was going to see a friend in a company, the gateman, I didn’t know how he recognises me and walked up to me and said that he uses our service to buy new phones and he sells those phones around.

You can see that from being a gateman we have been able to open a big business opportunity for him to supplement his income as a gateman. We have done that in many places.

There are people who started using us, today they are distributors in the products in the US.

Again, technology is the key, we have been able to develop an app both android and IOS that you can download, monitor and pay for your shipment. I think we are making an impact but there is still a lot to do.

The recent America position to restrict Nigerians entering in their country, did that affect your business?

No. Basically, if you look at what is going on, America as a country goes with rules and regulation.

From my understanding of the implication of Visa ban, they said they warned the Nigerian government they need to take certain precaution to improve on security and traceability of those coming into America.

So America is a country of roles. If somebody unjustly stopped business or doing what he is not supposed to do, you have no right to go to court. There is no need to say I know somebody, the judges would do the right thing.

To that extent, US has guidelines on how things should come in, what you can bring in, the quantity, how you should do the documentation and all that.

Once you follow those processes you don’t have a problem. There are a lot of people who complained that this is going to hurt Nigeria, I don’t see it hurting Nigeria in any way.

Vanguard News Nigeria.