SOUTH AFRICA'S new freight information system goes live on Monday 15 July.
Aimed at local importers, exporters and freight forwarders, Cargo Info Africa will slash the amount of time the local freight community spends on the phone to get details of ship movements and other information vital to the operations of firms engaged in international trade.
Available at no charge other than the connection to the Internet, the first modules to go live next week will be the integrated schedules of all lines serving South Africa. These will be updated daily.
Because of the speed of electronic distribution, Cargo Info readers will see Freight & Trading Weekly first, while back copies will be archived for reference through Cargo Info's powerful search engine.
Other modules to go live shortly include a Who's Who in Freight, a directory of freight service providers, a daily update of the lowest available fares out of South Africa on all major routes, and visa information for South Africans travelling abroad.
Cargo Info's publishers, Johannesburg-based Travel & Trade Publishing, this week received a 4-star award, the highest possible, for their Travelinfo directory on the Internet.
In making the 4-star award, the on-line team from California's McKinley Magellan said that the site To page 12 From page 1 excelled in depth of content, ease of exploration and net appeal. It is the first time they have made such a high award to a South African site and it is only one of eight worldwide out of the hundreds of travel sites they have reviewed. The same team, together with FTW's staff, is now applying what it has learnt to the content of Cargo Info. Readers who already have a PC with windows can have a good modem installed as well as an Internet connection for under R1000. Monthly connection fees to the Internet for unlimited access range from R60. There is no charge for Cargo Info which will be found at http://rapidttp.com/cargo.
If you wish to be put in contact with a company that will install your Internet connection, fax Cargo Info at (011) 726 3994.
