By Godwin Oritse
Members of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) have protested the frequent cancellation of paid Electronic Call-Up (ETO) bookings, describing the practice as unfair and a major cause of operational disruptions and financial losses for truck operators.
The truck owners argued that cancelling already paid bookings due to delays beyond their control amounts to a violation of consumers’ rights, insisting that operators who comply with the electronic call-up process should not bear the cost of systemic failures.
In a statement, Head of Research and Technical at AMATO, Mr. Adeshina Ajibola, called for an urgent review of the truck booking process for access to the nation’s seaports.
Ajibola said the recurring cancellation of paid ETO bookings due to operational delays outside the control of truckers required immediate attention.
He cited provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018, particularly Sections 120 and 130, which protect consumers in advance bookings and entitle them to redress where service providers fail to deliver agreed services.
He said: “Where a truck has complied with the prescribed process but loses its Truck Delivery Order (TDO) because of prolonged delays at loading points, pre-gates or other operational bottlenecks outside the trucker’s control, compelling the trucker to forfeit the booking fee and pay afresh raises serious concerns of fairness and compliance with the FCCPA.”
Ajibola urged the Truck Transit Parks (TTP), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), and other stakeholders to establish a transparent dispute resolution mechanism, including refunds or transfer of bookings where cancellations occur through no fault of the truck operators.
According to him, such measures would strengthen confidence in the ETO system and prevent truckers from bearing the financial burden of operational challenges.
Also reacting, AMATO Secretary, Mr. Sani Mohammed, called on TTP to work with the NPA to ensure that every TDO is permanently linked to a truck immediately after matching to prevent duplication.
Mohammed alleged that the current system allows some importers or their agents to assign the same TDO to different trucks, with some gaining access to the ports through shunting.
He urged TTP to refund ETO wallet balances for bookings cancelled or rendered unusable due to circumstances beyond the truckers’ control.
“I respectfully recommend that TTP adopt a policy of refunding ETO wallet balances for bookings that are cancelled or cannot be utilised through no fault of the trucker. Where a service is not rendered, the trucker should not lose the booking fee,” he said.
Mohammed also questioned whether terminal operators and agents were held accountable when operational delays caused tickets to expire or when duplicate TDOs were issued, asking why innocent truckers should bear the consequences.
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