Stakeholders in the haulage and logistics sector have called for the total removal of duties on compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks, and spare parts as well as more investment in infrastructure that will enhance smooth its adoption.
The stakeholders also called for a special finance model from the financial institutions, saying the financial model of the LPG and LNG cannot work for the CNG vehicles.
They made the call at the 2024 edition of the Haulage and Logistics Magazine annual conference and exhibition (HAULMACE) held in Lagos with the theme ‘Embracing Gas initiative in Haulage and Logistics Industry’.
The event was organised by Haulage and Logistics Magazine to provide a platform for advocacy and addressing pressing issues affecting the growth and development of the haulage and logistics industry.
In his address, the convener of the conference, Alfred Okugbeni, said since the beginning of 2024, it became clear that there was a need for an alternative way of moving cargo and people from place to place in Nigeria, hence the theme was selected for the conference.
The convener said the CNG has started picking up and it became clear that it would be the new focus if anybody were to survive the time.
He noted that transition into CNG was not just about the cost of doing business, but also about the cost of renewable in terms of sustainability.
He said that many companies and nations have started discussing the issue of sustainability because the world system has changed and the environments are becoming harder.
Keynote speaker, Logistics Director of Lafage, Osaze Aghatise, called on truckers to not only embrace the CNG initiative but to scale up, saying scaling up should be the focus because CNG is the way to go in scaling up the gas initiative.
He pointed out that the CNG initiative has many benefits among which is sustainability and reduction in carbon dioxide (C02) emissions.
He said transitioning to CNG is the right thing to do and it’s not whether we should do it.
“If you look at the logistics industry, the fleets that run on the road, in and out, and the number of emissions, as well as the way we pollute the environment, it will be silly of us not to make the switch to CNG and make it quick so that we can reduce CO2 emissions”, he said.
Speaking on sustainability, the speaker said it is apt as business owners to always balance cost while trying to balance sustainability, noting that if business owners do not balance both, then adoption of whatever initiative will face more barriers, stating that switching to CNG is not only sustainable but also has cost benefits.
Since the gas initiative to power trucks is efficient, and sustainable and reduces carbon dioxide emissions, Aghatise wonders why many people are not embracing it or scaling up.
According to him, one of the reasons is the obviously limited supply of infrastructure across the country. Although the government is putting policies in place that will enhance the creation of infrastructure, he said it is still not enough, noting that financing has been a big barrier to the gas initiative.
He said: “The appetite of banks towards scaling has to change quickly. I don’t see any reason why financing a green initiative should be the same as financing any other initiative. There has to be a differentiation in terms of financing which is one major barrier that we face today in scaling up on the CNG initiative.
“Terms should be tailored towards scaling this initiative. We cannot have a generic financing model for CNG trucks, it cannot work. We need to have something completely different, that is tailor-made towards scaling.”
According to Aghatise, statistics have shown that about 70 per cent of trucks coming into the country are on LPG /LNG and only about 30 per cent are CNG trucks, saying many truck owners still want the LPG/LNG truck because it is about 30 to 40 per cent cheaper when compare to CNG, insisting that the model of financing gas trucks needs to change.
“We need spare parts, after-sales, maintenance hubs that can support whatever scale that we want to push for. Even today with the diesel trucks, we still have spare parts availability issues. It is either the quality of the spare parts is not good or the quantity of the spare parts is not enough. It is something we need to look at holistically. It’s not a one-way approach to drive the CNG initiative,” he said.
