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.”