
Haulage business is one of the oldest businesses in Nigeria, suprisingly its also a futuristic business in our country and the whole of Africa. The future of haulage business in Nigeria remains bright, not until we could do the hard work of transporting heavy materials and goods from one place to another all by ourselves without the use of trucks or Haulage vehicles.
What is Haulage Business?
I will rather define Haulage to you as I will assume that you have less or no knowledge about Haulage: Forgive me for that… So what is Haulage? Haulage is simply the process of transporting goods from one location to another usually by land and involves the use of large vehicles like Tippers, Trailers, Trucks, Or Vans, and other land transportation mediums like Trains. In this tutorial I am going to focus on Haulage with vehicles like Trucks etc. Not Train. Now i will bet that you don’t just understand the word “Haulage” but also, you basically know what Haulage Business is.
How big is the Haulage Market?
Haulage business is connected almost anything touchable and movable from sands, to goods, building materials, farm products, home appliances etc. This means that if you take a look at your surroundings, you will likely realize that 90% of the things around you got to where they are by means of one Haulage service to another.
For instance, the laptop am using to type this tutorial was assembled in China and exported to Nigeria within shipping containers. After arriving the shores of Nigeria every other journey that followed, starting from the seaport, to the warehouse were it’s been kept, to the stores were it was sold was all done by means of haulage services or business.
You can see how useful the haulage business can be. The haulage business is indeed a daily need thereby making its market a really big one much profitable.
The above example of Haulage services works mostly in urban areas. But what about …
Haulage business in the rural areas: does it work?

The answer is YES it does.
Think about rural farmers: they need haulage services to transport their products to the market. Without haulage business, their farm products will remain in the farm after harvest and that’s terrible for them.
Export products like cocoa, charcoal, palm oil, cassava, dried hibiscus and cashew nuts are all transported by haulage from the their place of production to the seaport where they will finally be exported.
The haulage cycle doesn’t just end within transporting of goods from their production site down to the market or consumers, haulage also take care of transporting old, condemned or damaged items back to the factory for the purpose of recycling. Therefore, haulage business has obviously helped and still helps us all in one way or the other.
3 Reasons: Why you should start Haulage Business.
If you are interested in starting a Haulage Business but still wondering “why Haulage” or you are still not too sure about starting, then consider the three reasons I will be sharing below on why you should start Haulage Business;
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There is a need.
There is an ever-growing need for Haulage services in Nigeria. That’s the first truth I want you to have in mind, and the first reason you should begin to think of starting the Haulage business (if you haven’t been thinking about that). This is because the rail transport industry has been crippled by poor maintenance among others. Therefore as a country, the only real option we have for transporting goods is limited to “vehicles” leaving a large gap that needs to be filled. So by starting a Haulage firm you will be meeting a great need in Nigeria.
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There is a place for you in the Business.
The second reason you need to know is that “there is a place for you in the market”. In business almost every market in any sector has a place for an incoming player, because it’s easier to join in. No matter the number of players in the game, no matter how big and influential your potential competitors are, there is a place for you in Haulage business. If there are too many people in the business, find a niche and concentrate your strength on it. If they are too much in the cities, concentrate on the villages and small town, there are a lot of ways you can smartly find your place in the business!
Like I said to you earlier “there is a need” and even though you might probably think, “those needs have been met already” but that’s not always the case. There is always an unsatisfied need somewhere that YOU can satisfy if you start the business, do not think the current guys in the business are really meeting all those needs. There is a place for you if you can learn how things are done, and how to fly without perching.
Do not be afraid of starting!
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You can make good money.
More to meeting a great need out there and having a place in the market, with haulage business you can make good money, a serious passive income at that. Averagely, most Haulage businesses go home with #150,000 – #300,000 per haulage journey (it can be more and can be less; this depends on the location, distance to be covered, nature and size of goods). However I must tell you that making money in Haulage or any other kind of business, making money is to a large extent dependent on your persistence and patience, knowledge on business and good strategy etc.
You cannot start making money from day-one; every good thing has a price, be ready to pay that price. Things might get ugly at first or along the line but if you persist and say no to giving up, then fortune will smile at you eventually. There is a lot of money to be made in this business which I believe you would like to be part of the-making of it.
Can anyone start haulage business?
If I should answer this question, then I will say “Yes” and “No”, which is same as saying “It depends”. If you have the right knowledge then YES otherwise NO.
One thing you must know.
You want to start the business of Haulage? That’s nice and I sincerely salute your interest in starting Haulage Business, However there is this one thing I want you to know: Haulage Business is capital intensive. Yes its capital intensive but that but doesn’t mean it is impossible for you to start!
Let me tell you something, the first thing you need is not money, it’s idea. That might sound crazy but it’s the truth, though in every business you will need money but it’s not always the first thing you need!
The next thing crucial thing to know is: Haulage Business is risky! this is not to scare you. This is because every business involves risk too, Haulage has its own risk and other businesses have theirs too. A good knowledge on Haulage, marketing, accounting or good use of numbers and business generally can help you minimize risk. If you are afraid of risk then you can hardly make it big in any business. However, a good knowledge is required in order to take smart risks.
What then do I need to do?
I will answer you in the next section;
7 Secrets To Starting Haulage Business In Nigeria.
Secret #1: Idea.
First you need an idea: like I said above, idea is the first and most important thing you need. What is your business idea? Are you just going into Haulage business like your competitor or you are going in with a difference? How much do you know about your market and how do you plan to win it? What are you improving in the market?
Except your answers to the above questions are positive, you need to re-think. Business goes far beyond selling of products and services; it’s a war which you don’t want to lose. Have a business idea!
Secret #2: Knowledge.
Secondly you need knowledge. You need to learn about Haulage (just like you are already doing that by reading this tutorial), read good business books, get mentors, learn from the top players of the game and you will find things a bit easier. You need knowledge and of course the right knowledge. If you don’t know how to start and run a business, learn how to start a business. If you don’t know how to raise capital, learn how to raise capital or how to find investors for your business. Just seek knowledge and you will find it.
Secret #3: Business Plan.
The next thing you need is a Business Plan!
This is a stage that involves creating plans and setting goals for your Haulage business. How do you want to execute your business ideas? What do you intend achieve in the next one year? How do you plan to achieve it? Etc. Here you need to put pen to paper and derive some smart and clear business plans and your business- war strategies.
Secret #4: Capital.
And then you need capital, very important too. Without capital, executing your plans will just be nightmares. In most cases you will need at least a million naira to start a one-truck haulage business. If you have the idea, and have gotten the knowledge about what you are going into (Haulage Business in this case), then capital will come to you with ease even if you have ZERO naira or dollars right now!
If you are still stocked about finding capital then you may want to take a look at this wonderful book titled “How to get capital to finance your business.”
Secret #5: Register your Business.
To avoid being penalized legally by the government, to ensure and improve trust from your would-be customers, you need to register your business. It’s important to register your business especially with the corporate affairs commission (CAC) as well as identifying your business with associations that matters. We have a tutorial written here on how to register your company or business in Nigeria.
Secret #6: Find a good driver.
When you are done with all the above procedures, you may then want to find a qualified and good driver which is very important too. You wouldn’t want to give your truck a drunkard who could fall off the bridge with your customer’s goods and cause your business to shut down.
You need to find a good driver who you can trust, who can maintain your truck and would cheat you. Even though most drivers would want to dupe you in order to earn more money than they deserve, but a smart administration can save you from that.
Secret #7: Take off.
Everything is now set and it’s time for you to get to work. Time waits for no one “the time is always right to do what is right” Martin Luther King. You now know everything you need to know in order to start your Haulage Business, which means you can start your business smartly, not in the same way a business dummy will start his or hers.
I wish you Good Luck. Much Love.