Major challenges hindering reliable road transportation in downstream logistics

Abstract

This research was undertaken with the sole aim of understanding some of the challenges that
organizations involved in the manufacturing and distribution of fast moving consumer goods encounter
in their logistics operations. Despite the existence of various modes of transportation, road transport in
our part of the world is the dominant choice due to the ill resourced nature of the other modes such as
rail, water and air. Unfortunately, road transport is fraught with challenges that must be understood and
managed to minimize its impact on the organization. The research which was a cross sectional study
employed the means of both quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The research targeted a
selected sample of drivers, representatives of transporters of Nestlé products and key management
personnel of Nestlé's Central Distribution Center based in the industrial area enclave of Tema. At the long haul, out of fourteen potential factors that may cause congestion and delay deliveries to the
company's clients, four of them were identified as major causes. These were road traffic congestion,
breakdown of trucks, road construction and the ever increasing human traffic on our roads and
pavements at the central business districts of our urban centers. Appropriate recommendations were
made to management of Nestlé to help mitigate these threats, such as building capacity in these
transporters to acquire brand new trucks that may last the test of time and the adoption of ICT to beat the
congestion pandemic. Relevant conclusions were drawn.