Circle chairman predicts bumper future for southern Africa

THE DRIVE into African markets will be among the most notable movements as the newly formed Renfreight Circle operation gets under way. This was made clear by Circle International chairman Peter Gibert in Johannesburg last week.
Paying his first visit to the country since Renfreight joined forces with Circle to create one of this country's premier logistics and freight management organisations, Gibert said:
Africa today has tremendous opportunities. I look back on the Central American situation of about 15 years ago as the perfect example.
Civil war was rife down there. But watching it from our San Francisco headquarters we saw it as a portion of the world which would settle down and develop into a major economic region. And we were correct.
Today trade and industry are thriving there, and the changes that are coming about in Africa, in particular in the southern African region, lead me to believe you are in for a bumper future, regardless of the problems that may exist right now.
In the next 10 years I expect to see more and more manufactured goods coming out of these parts and serving the world.
It isn't merely the growth in African trade which has encouraged the merger of the two groups, says Rennies Group c.e. Piet Steyn.
The initiative, he says, is a key move in his strategy to put Rennies firmly into the global arena.
It isn't sufficient for our customers and our shareholders that we are the leading customs broker and terminal operators in southern Africa. We were not enjoying sufficient of the international situation, and Circle's worldwide logistics facilities and systems will provide us with the global reach that we need.
With Gibert claiming that Circle's international operation encompasses 94 nations, making it what he terms 'the United Nations of the business world', Steyn is satisfied that the new operation will effectively manage the movement of freight worldwide, and is the best method possible to provide a southern African transport solution.
One interesting aspect of the Circle International visit to this country was the input of Peter Singleton, president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, who says:
We find a completely new breed of people moving into the freight logistics scene these days. We are attracting a vast number of graduates rather than people with historical freight backgrounds. The newcomers are attracted more to the software than to the hardware.
Our world is changing from the conventional ship owning and aircraft owning sector to real freight management logistics.
BY LEONARD NEILL