Botswana hauliers battle rising costs

Containing ever-increasing costs remains a major focus for transporters in Botswana, says Kevin Lees, managing director of Truckhire. “Being a landlocked country, just about all of our freight moves on road. Logistics costs remain extremely high and containing costs is high on the agenda.” This is not always an easy task, he said, as transporters are continuously faced with increased costs – be it new permits or fees that have to be paid or the everincreasing fuel price. “Also delays at the ports and the border posts have a major impact as standing trucks waiting to be loaded or to cross into a country are not making money.” For Lees it is therefore important to ensure that operations are efficient. “Our costs continue to rise but it is becoming more difficult to recover the costs as rates just don’t hold up. Finding ways of keeping costs down is therefore central to remaining viable in this highly competitive industry.” He said in Botswana, where more and more small operators were opening businesses, it was becoming more difficult. “Cheap but old trucks from the UK are being dumped in the market. These grey import trucks mean it is easy for someone to start up a transport business – and as they carry limited overheads rates are driven down, impacting heavily on the market.” INSERT & CAPTION Kevin Lees and Amogelang Bagele Basoli of Truckhire ... focus on efficiency.