Securing a presence wherever there is a need
KEVIN MAYHEW
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES and growth within the southern African region have benefited express freight and courier company African Express which has expanded further into the region.
After Unitrans Freight acquired a 60% stake in the company in 2002, it moved its main hub to Isando, Johannesburg, in 2003. And in the past year it entered Lesotho and Swaziland as part of its structured rollout into the sub-continent. The company originated in Botswana where it became the largest express freight company in the country servicing the whole of Botswana with its extensive branch network and its own fleet of 56 linehaul and delivery vehicles.
“Our expansion plans have tracked the presence of Unitrans as it made sense to provide an express freight and courier service to centres where Unitrans operated. We will continue with this, but also look at securing a presence and service to all countries where there is a need,” says its managing director, Nebojsa Graorac.
Today the company employs in excess of 200 people and a strategy of replicating the service model which was so successful in Gaborone to other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries has already begun. This model includes an on-line freight management programme incorporating track and trace, bar coding and scanning functionality.
Recognising the challenges of offering a full service into Africa, Graorac is certain that African Express will continue to guarantee Express Freight and courier delivery that will cater for varying service level requirements between Johannesburg and the African main centres.
African Express is a member of Sky Net Worldwide in Botswana and Swaziland and is an agency for TNT Express in Botswana.
