IT WASN’T just the drop in sugar prices that depressed Cargo Carriers’ main clients this past year, but also drought and other weather-related problems that diminished sugar cane harvests. All indications for the year ahead point to a reversal of fortunes for Swaziland’s main export, to the benefit of Swaziland’s largest road freight operation. “Things are going pretty well in the fields, better than last year,” said marketing manager of the Swazi sugar operation Tom Mennie. With crop volumes expected to be up, the companys’ 145 trucks and 520 employees will be kept busy transporting both bulk sugar and processed sugar-related products like molasses. “Cargo Carriers’ Swaziland operation is known as the Sugar Division, but there is very little cargo we wouldn’t get involved in,” said Mennie. The company hauls petroleum products vital to the landlocked country that imports all petrol from South Africa. So key is this to Cargo Carriers' business that one of its four branches, at the Matsapha Industrial Estate, is primarily a petrol depot. The other three branches are located at the main sugar estates in the eastern part of the country, at Mhlume, Simunye and Big Bend. Cargo Carriers usually handles bulk loads like oils and maize from South Africa, but can also transport smaller packages and has also moved timber and other commodities. Cargo Carriers has announced its latest empowerment initiative in Swaziland in the form of an owner-driver scheme for their sugar operations at Big Bend. The official launch of the scheme took place on June 15.
