A thousand trucks that were imported a year ago by the Ministry of Works and Urban Development (MoWUD) for the transportation of building materials for government construction projects and given to private owners on credit are to be deployed for the transport of fertiliser from Djibouti.

The weather in the countries from where the fertiliser is bought, including Jordan, Russia and Ukraine, already caused some concern over the delivery schedule, and the government wants to avoid any delays in the distribution to farmers once the fertiliser begins arriving at the port.

The decision to use the trucks was made based on a request from the Agricultural Inputs Supply Enterprise (AISE) to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD), and a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Federal Transport Authority, Maritime Authority, MoARD and MoWUD, according to a senior official at MoWUD.

AISE has been in charge of fertiliser imports since last year. Previously it had been one of the bidders in tenders of MoARD, being the only state company among a host of private importers. Since then tenders have been invited for the delivery of 500,000tn or more at a time, up from the usual 75,000tn. This change came based on a proposal from AISE, which is under MoARD, which argued that if orders were for large deliveries, better prices would be available in the market, according to an official at the enterprise.

Total delivery for the 2009/10 agricultural season amounts to 530,000tn, coming from a number of countries. It is expected to be fully delivered by April 2010.

"The countries from where the fertiliser is being imported and even the [surrounding] seas were covered with ice," said an official at AISE. "This was causing some problems in loading the cargo."

A vessel leaving from Russia with a cargo of 12,000tn had to be delayed as a result of these problems, according to this official. Logistics had to be planned for the shipment from the port before the ships dock at the port in order to avoid any further delays, he said.

The truck owners would be paid market prices for the services of their trucks, which previously had been solely used for government projects, an official at MoWUD said. Their deployment would also avoid the payment of port penalties for delayed pickup of cargo, he said. Their assignment to transport fertiliser would not affect government building projects, according to this official, because all necessary deliveries of building materials have already been made.

"They will be used until all the fertiliser has been moved," he said. "They can even start transporting wheat and sugar."

The extra revenue the trucks make as a result, according to this official, will enable bank debts extended for the purchase of the trucks to be paid back in time.