'Big improvements at Santa Clara'

Moving cargo successfully across South Africa’s borders requires a very clear understanding of the complexities and challenges one will encounter, says Ryno Badenhorst, business development manager of FP du Toit Transport. For FP du Toit, says Badenhorst, addressing these challenges includes having a dedicated Africa division on hand to plan, monitor and manage the routes the company travels in Africa, regularly assessing the risks and proactively working towards finding solutions to issues. “We offer various services across several countries. “Apart from full load transport we also offer breakbulk consolidated freight services and a parcel distribution business.” He maintains the biggest crossborder concern and challenge is the delays at border crossings. “We still experience some major delays but we have also seen some major improvements such as those at Santa Clara in Angola.” Badenhorst said on average they were moving around 16 loads per month through this border post but some months it was as high as 25. “The first load we ever took through this border was in 2008 and it took around ten days to clear, but the next load took 23 days and then 42 days, with the record being 55 days,” he said. “Since then there have been major undertakings to improve efficiency. While the average waiting time in 2008 was around 26 days, it is currently only about 4.82 days. There has been a steady improvement over thr years."