Automotive specialist set to diversify

In the three short years since it set up a full subsidiary in South Africa, the General Express Forwarding Company (GEFCO) has grown to the point that it now offers all core services associated with the global automotive and industrial logistics group. These include air and sea freight, road freight, a warehousing reusable packaging (WRP) operation, finished vehicle logistics and customs and tax representations. Managing director Benoit Toussaint, who has 15 years of GEFCO experience, has steered the local operation since 2013, and although it has potential to service a wide variety of industries, the complex automotive field is where its emphasis has been to date. He cites the past two years as particularly significant for the South African operation. In 2013, GEFCO took over Peugeot Citroen’s 8 000sqm spare parts warehouse in Linbro Park in Sandton, at the same time assuming responsibility for the overland delivery of parts to dealers countrywide and in neighbouring states. Its complete door-to-door logistics, states Toussaint, comprising importation by air and sea, customs clearance, storage at Linbro Park and delivery. GEFCO is promoting this global logistics service to all types of manufacturers. At the end of 2014 GEFCO set up a finished vehicle logistics site at Cato Ridge – a strategic location because of its proximity to the Port of Durban and its easy access to the N3. “We chose a spot not directly on the coast to avoid corrosion on the cars, and in easy distance of Gauteng which holds 60% of South Africa’s automotive market,” explains Toussaint. The Cato Ridge compound houses up to 2 500 cars at a time and is equipped with a workshop and body shop. Areas GEFCO is suited for and has designs on are logistics for aviation, fast moving consumer goods, electronics, two wheelers and high and heavy industrial machinery, such as that utilised in the fields of oil and gas. One of the company’s strengths is its information systems, which are standardised worldwide and thus able to track and trace effortlessly, said Toussaint. CAPTION GEFCO’s warehousing facility is part and parcel of its allinclusive logistics offering