Client service charter will speed transit on TKC

An historic agreement brokered
by the Trans Kalahari
Corridor Secretariat (TKCS)
will see the private and public
sectors working together to speed
up transit times and improve
service levels along all 1 900
kilometres between Walvis Bay and
Johannesburg.
The client service charter
– believed to be the first for a
transport corridor in Africa – will
be launched in the first quarter of
2011, according to Bevan Simataa,
executive director of the TKCS.
The charter, to be ratified by
operators and agencies from
Namibia and Botswana, will be
extended to include the South
African leg of the corridor once
the pilot has been successfully
completed.
All Namibian and Botswana
agencies serving the route have
agreed on a set of minimum service
standards, he says.
This includes customs,
immigration, transport (including
weighbridge operators), cross-border
agencies responsible for levying
charges, as well as those that issue
permits, the port, and the police
services.
Transporters, freight forwarders,
clearing agents and others in the
logistics chain serving the route
have also agreed to sign the charter,
he says.
A “roadmap” has been drawn up
for its implementation. The final
draft document is being circulated,
and the charter will be completed
once the comments have been
incorporated.
It will then be printed and
distributed to all signatories and
posted on the website. Booklets and
brochures will also be produced and
made available at key points along
the route.
“We will make the standards
accessible to those who need them,”
he says.
Simataa says improved and
common service standards will help
attract more traffic to the corridor
by accelerating the passage of
freight through harmonised service
standards.
“One of the early breakthroughs
is a common customs form,” he
says.
Truck stops, which are expected
to be built along the route, will also
be expected to sign the charter,
but the TKCS is encouraging all
businesses along the corridor to get
involved.
A spin-off would be an increase in
tourist traffic, and the secretariat is
already talking to tourism authorities
from all three countries.