Customs Services moves in on cross-border project cargo market

Customs Services has launched a transport broker service for project and long-haul cargo, particularly cargo bound for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. “We’re building on the huge opportunities that exist for trade and entrepreneurial development within South Africa at the moment and hope to eventually expand our road transport fleet offering and increase our staff complement to meet the increased demand. Meanwhile, we subcontract our project cargo and longhaul cargo to other transport companies we have good relationships with,” says Customs Services managing director Chris Scott. He told FTW that despite the numerous challenges currently facing the freight industry, the family-owned company remained optimistic. “We’ve done away with long-term strategy but are continually looking at new opportunities and how we can leverage them to our advantage,” said Scott. This includes expanding its services and global contracts through its membership of the World Freight Network, as well as moving towards obtaining official accreditation for the company’s training facility in Jet Park. “This is a long-term objective but we’ve seen the need for skills development – from the ground up – and due to the specialist knowledge required for this training, companies usually do not have their own resources and do not really know where to obtain the relevant training,” he said. The Customs Services training facility currently provides training for personnel employed by importers, exporters and manufacturers. “A lot of industry challenges can be overcome through training, education and development,” said Scott. CAPTION Chris Scott … leveraging opportunities.