Consolidation of minerals for export is big business at SACD

It’s been a busy start to the year for logistics major SACD Freight – and warehousing capacity is one of the biggest challenges for regional director Dennis Trotter. A key area – and one which has shown incremental growth over the years – is consolidation of minerals from Africa. “Africa is very big for us on the export side,” Trotter told FTW. “While we don’t operate in Africa, we have major customers on the continent for whom we provide landside logistic solutions, consolidating and containerising minerals for transport to the port. The company currently has 33 000 sq m of warehousing space under roof at its City Deep operation which is running at near capacity. Last year was a difficult one for many in the industry, particularly on the import side. A significant change, said Trotter, was the speeding up of Customs clearance thanks to the roll-out of the Customs modernisation programme. For SACD, its Customs licence has traditionally been a big part of its business, and the new business landscape has called for new areas of focus. “We’re looking at new product lines and expansion where things are working,” said Trotter. “One of the advantages of SACD is its flexibility. We are able to model solutions for specific customers like the motor industry which requires Just In Time deliveries for its production line – staging containers and delivering them in the correct order. “Because we have access by road and rail with a full suite of lifting equipment on site and the capacity to handle full containers and stage for import and export, we have an edge in niche markets,” he told FTW. “The challenge is to expose more of these niche markets and capitalise on them.” For now the company is keeping its plans under wraps.