Time Is Money: Barge Saves You Both!
“Self-driving vehicles will automatically choose the most efficient route. Artificial intelligence will dramatically improve logistics.” ~Dave Waters
We are finally in the second half of the year. Couple of months to now, you will be evaluating yourself on how far you have gone in 2021. Have you achieved half of your 2021 set-goals? Or you are still singing the “I still have time” song? Remember, time is of the essence and procrastination is a deadly disease. Endeavour to stay focused, and if you get tired along the line, rest but do not quit. Welcome to Logistics Monday.
Cargo transport by barge has been perceived of considerable societal importance to accomplish feasible versatility. Given the enormous congestion on roads, it is necessary we investigate the conceivable outcomes of shipping cargo by barge rather than by road. A large part of the limit of inland waters is still unexploited, consequently proposing that there is degree for more cargo transport.
In a moderately short space of time, barge transport has become a very much evolved mode for transporting containers in Nigeria. In a place like Nigeria where the major port is situated in Apapa, the speed by which a cargo arrives to the final destination is most times delayed because of the road congestion, thereby making the containers stay put on the road for days. Barge operation has been able to mitigate this effect by transporting cargos through inland waters and distributing it directly to warehouses. Therefore, in the presence of congested roads in a geographical area, barge freight option saves time. Barge freight is also significant in terms of capacity. A barge could stack up to 22 boxes or more which therefore reduces the cost incurred during transportation. Below is the breakdown of barge capacity compared to other modes of transportation:
Cargo Capacity
| Barge | Rail | Truck |
| 1500 tonnes | 100 tonnes | 25 tonnes |
| 52, 500 bushels | 3500 bushels | 875 bushels |
| 453, 600 gallons | 30, 240 gallons | 7560 gallons |
Other benefits of barge transportation for cargos include:
- Navigational safety
- Cost effectiveness.
- Improvement of the hinterland vessel turnaround time (higher productivity), because of a reduction of the number of calls in the port
- Improvement of the cost and reliability performance of barge hinterland services
- A better utilisation of space at marine terminals as the dwell time of containers at marine terminals can be reduced if the barge hub terminal can also facilitate a storage function for (empty) containers.
- Environmentally most friendly type of cargo transportation
- A higher crane/quay productivity, because the average productivity of handling containers in large call sizes is higher.
At TGL, our barge operations have been designed in such a way that from the comfort of your office or home, you can have your cargoes brought to your doorstep and your empties returned at no extra cost.
TGL barge operations have proven to be one of the best in the country as we are second to none and it has proven to be among the swiftest ways to import or export. Our barge is a cost and time effective means of transporting your cargoes.
No longer do you have to wait for weeks or months to have access to your goods. You no longer have to battle the congestion faced at the Ports. With our barge operations, your goods are moved from the ports to our jetties and then to your warehouse. The extra bonus point for you is that you avoid incurring extra cost on the length of days your goods would have spent at the port.
Our Barge Operations cover but are not limited to Importation, Exportation and Empties management. We at TGL are readily available to smoothen your journey with our swift logistics system. With a team of over 50 years’ combined experience in freight forwarding, inbound and outbound logistics, compliance/documentation, and core technology services and we are more than able to ensure that the logistics process(es) of your business stays afloat.
Get in touch with our Experts to discuss your Logistics requirements.
Email: info@tgl.ng