Cross trades into Africa a growing market

The airfreight division of independent consolidator CFR Freight is the fastest-growing within the company, and Africa remains its biggest export destination. “We’re doing a lot of cross trades into Africa and now offer DAPs (formerly DDUs) into 20 African countries – more than ever before,” general manager – airfreight, Dave Graham, told FTW. Africa will always have its challenges, particularly for the smaller forwarders who don’t have their own agency network,” says Graham. “It’s impossible for them to compete with the logistics majors who have their own offices in the region – and this is where we come in.” “Our core function however remains airport to airport consolidations, and the past year has seen good volumes moving into Cameroun and Kenya – although we serve all major destinations in the region.” Graham believes that the volume increase is related more to the rebirth and expansion of the company’s airfreight division than industry growth to these markets. “CFR remains the only consolidator in the country with an equal emphasis on air and sea – so we’re effectively able to offer a one-stop solution to our clients.” Part and parcel of that solution is IT-based. “We’re in the process of enhancing our web-based tariff engine while our track and trace system automatically sends an update to our clients every time we add a checkpoint to the shipment. “Were constantly looking for enhancements based on client needs.”