Despite some challenges in the second half of last year, the South African division of neutral express consolidator AMI saw strong growth, with expectations of further growth this year.
AMI vice president: Africa, Milton French, said a general bounce in world trade had generated stronger volumes in the second half of 2017 than for the previous seven years. He said that capacity crunches had resulted, backlogs had become commonplace, and market rates on some trade lanes had soared. Many shippers and agents were caught out by this, according to French.
“But AMI was able to insulate its agent customers from the worst effects, due to its buying power.” He said the knock-on effect of the storms and heavy flooding in Durban late last year – where port equipment was damaged and port operations have subsequently been running at 65% capacity for months now – had led to higher demand for airfreight.
“Many shippers had to switch to airfreight for shipments that were urgent or had specific deadlines,” French explained. He acknowledged that drought conditions in South Africa had temporarily impacted perishable volumes through AMI’s Cape Town branch, which has refrigerated facilities to handle exports of quality fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers from the Cape to many overseas markets.
He added however that there were several opportunities to increase growth this year, including those that came with a regime change in Zimbabwe.
“The country’s new attitude to foreign markets is likely to generate huge growth in trade from South Africa and the rest of the world, using South Africa as a gateway because of its more developed scheduled air connections,” French commented. “With its own bases at 27 locations in Europe, USA, Australasia and the Far East, and partner agents throughout the world, AMI is in an ideal position to service this business from the major markets, and tranship it into Zimbabwe via Johannesburg,” he said.
AMI also now provides 24/7 online quotes and booking via its recently upgraded express web portal.
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There are several opportunities to increase growth this year, including those that come with a regime change in Zimbabwe. – Milton French
