Cargocare considers ‘runners’ to mimimise border delays

The rising fuel price along with
the strong rand remain a major
headache for South African
logistics companies who are
pulling out all the stops to keep
costs down.
“All of this leads to
significant increases in our
cartage costs,” says Johnny
Reddy, export manager of
Cargocare. “Increasing interest
rates further exacerbate the
issue.”
The introduction of the new
port system, Navis, has also not
helped much, he said. “It is not
being frequently updated by
port authorities and that results
in the short-shipment of our
containers. The new system has
also added to the congestion
problems as they have had
teething problems during its
implementation.”
All of this is further
compounded, says Reddy, by
border delays, with Sars and
Customs having lost expertise
in recent months.
“In some cases it takes days
to get releases and feedback on
customs documents that often
need to be processed manually
resulting in trucks standing at
the border post – leaving them
open to pilferage and adding to
costs.”
To minimise the standing
time at the borders,
Cargocare is considering
dispatching runners to process
documentation.
According to Reddy,
ensuring customers are always
aware of what is happening
makes for logistical excellence.
“Flooding information to
clients so that all parties
concerned are always kept fully
aware of developments makes
all the difference.”