The Customs Control Bill is an indictment of the parties that compiled it and is a serious blow to the SA logistics market’s efficiency, according to Richard Bennet, marketing director of iProp, part of the team working on a R900-million expansion of a new Freight Logistics Park in City Deep. Despite freight industry submissions of complaint about the bill, the proposed amendments or withdrawal of the bill have been rejected, he told FTW. As far as City Deep is concerned, he noted the effect on efficient usage of land and freight infrastructure, such as road and rail. “The market is larger than the supply,” he said. “What we see is that, unfortunately, the available land will be absorbed for uses other than freight logistics users due to this change in the legislation.” A change, he added, that has been contrary to business advice. This, according to Bennet, is likely to lead to the big names and major bodies in the industry having to make a serious effort to get things back to what the world is doing in recognising the benefit of developing inland ports. CAPTION City Deep ... soon to be a white elephant?
