Commodity price recovery heralds positive outlook for 2010

2010 is expected to see a significant recovery in commodity prices as well as improved demand from the Far East for minerals, says Dennis Trotter, Gauteng-based regional director of SACD Freight. “There is no doubt that the past year was tough with the collapse in commodity prices, but we were in a position where we in fact increased our market share and extended our warehouse capacity to accommodate the additional business,” says Trotter. “Looking at 2010 we are hoping to improve on this and as demand for minerals increases, the challenge will be in finding enough vehicles to move the cargo and to find return loads for the trucks when in South Africa.” SACD’s freight stations provide a wide service spectrum including full and empty container handling, pack and unpack, warehousing and receipt and dispatch by road and rail. “In Johannesburg we have specialised in the mining export market, providing a consolidation service to several major players in the industry,” says Trotter. “We receive cargo by road, warehouse and add necessary services such as weighing, sampling, re-bagging, sorting and documentation prior to actually packaging according to customer requirements and moving to ship stacks in the port of departure.” According to Trotter, when working in the mining industry, safety is of utmost importance. “Along with accuracy and attention to detail and computer-generated reporting, you have to invest heavily in security if you want to be successful in the minerals industry.” With facilities in Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, SACD has been in the business since 1977.