The Logistics Sector on the Southern Shores of the Western ... - cetmo

October 2010<strong>The</strong> <strong>Logistics</strong> <strong>Sector</strong>on the Southern Shores of the Western Mediterranean• No figures are available for the number of road transport companies. According toMinistry of Transportation statistics for 2009, the number of vehicles in operation was asfollows:Vehicles Articulated Lorries Smaller Lorries TotalLibyan 29,594 41,053 70,647Foreign 3,244 3,733 6,977Total 32,838 44,786 77,624• <strong>The</strong>re are no haulier associations, nor are there any plans to develop communicationchannels between the operators and the government to discuss the profession’s commonproblems.Service Provision• Libya has the second highest rate of road accidents in North Africa. Although trucks areonly involved in 10% of them, a law has been passed to prevent lorries from travelling onthe roads after 8 p.m. This law has reduced the productivity of these vehicles and as yetprices have not been raised to compensate for increased costs.• <strong>The</strong> road infrastructure is good, although there is a lack of maintenance (just 5,000 km ofthe total 34,000 km of roads have access to this service) and the majority of traffic signsare in Arabic only. <strong>The</strong>re are rest areas on the coastal motorway but there are nomonitored parking areas for heavy vehicles, nor are there any logistics platforms orspecial facilities for lorry drivers and their vehicles.• Training schools are limited to preparing drivers for their driving test and teaching themhow to maintain their vehicles. <strong>The</strong>re is no specific preparation for the demands of theirprofession or for the management of transport companies.• For the oil and cement industries and for port transport, however, the level of training isgood. Training deficits are concentrated in other transport specialities.• Regarding ICTs, companies do not use specific software for the operational managementof their fleets and to control transport operations. Drivers use mobile phones. AlthoughInternet access is widespread and inexpensive throughout Libya, road-transportcompanies do not generally make use of the Internet to market and sell their services.Services Offered• In nearly all cases the public-sector transport available takes the form of full-truckloadservices. Temperature-controlled transport is limited in practice to refrigeratedcontainers. <strong>The</strong> transportation of hazardous products (such as fuel) is handled internally,generally by the company’s own vehicles. Intermodal transport is limited to portcontainers.• Groupage services remain little developed for transport within the country. <strong>The</strong>y aremore common for import and export operations by sea.Rail TransportMarket Structure46 CETMO