Contacts count in the challenging African market

LEONARD NEILL MINING PROJECTS in various parts of East and West Africa are on the increase and moving machinery and other necessities to them present their own set of problems. But these can always be solved by an experienced agent says Mauro de Rose, managing director of multi-modal forwarder Incotrans. Many of the planned mines are situated in regions with little or no suitable roadways often far removed from the nearest airport or landing strip, he says. Consignments often have to travel across virgin terrain and under varying climatic conditions. “These are the types of challenges that demand experience – and we’ve had years of it, ever since South Africa returned to the global environment 15 years ago which is when we started meeting them. There is nothing like good old-fashioned hands-on involvement to enable the logistics team to sort it all out and that is what we are able to do efficiently.” The African continent provides the bulk of project cargo movements from South Africa, says De Rose. With Africa accounting for 80% of Incotrans business in both projects and other consignments such as road consolidations, knowing the territory and its varying markets is crucial. “It’s contacts that count when shipping material to West African ports where congestion is a major problem. Reducing delays can save a good deal of money and we are fortunate to be able to do this in that region.” Incotrans also provides road consolidations on a regular basis to Mozambique Malawi Zambia and Zimbabwe. “Ín all of these operations – whether it is in consolidations or the single huge requirement of a new mining venture – the overall demand is for quality of service. It is in that region we have built a reputation of which we are proud.”