Advance clearing is crucial to avoid border delays

The increase in fuel prices and the increase in the cost of road permits and cross-border permits have challenged the transport industry this year, says Julie Langlois, marketing director of Linked Logistics. “This affects the cost of transport offered to clients and the overall cross-border road transport sector. The strong rand is also making South Africa a more expensive country to buy from which could negatively affect the export market,” she adds. When it comes to consolidations, Langlois urges importers to ensure that their duty payments and clearing are done in advance of trucks leaving for the border. “Zimbabwean clearing agents will sometimes give loading authority before they have all their documentation in order and this will delay the cargo being sent to all of the importers that have consignments on the trucks. Often Zimbabwean companies will try to opt for a dedicated small truck load, however the costs of sending a smaller truck are still high and often the benefit of time saved does not warrant the additional costs.” Langlois says business has slowed down over the past five months. “We have noticed that certain companies and industries do not seem to be as busy. This is in line with the usual trends in the industry. But based on past experience we expect business to slowly start picking up from now till year-end,” she says.