Damco now offers end-to-end solutions

Damco, with the offices still acting as a ship’s agency for Maersk Line and Safmarine. The difference is that now the agency can offer other end-to-end solutions. “We provide freight forwarding services such as LCL, airfreight and breakbulk, as opposed to purely containerised cargo,” says Zambia country manager Syreeta Chitengi. “For our containerised service, containers are delivered to customers’ doors on trailers, or can be lifted onto the ground for unpacking or packing,” she says. Damco is seeing growth in the “mixed bag” of freight it handles. One of the interesting trends is that all exports of sawn timber have been containerised since the Zambian government passed legislation to prevent the export of raw logs. The company has also participated in delivering materials for a new stadium that is being built in Ndola. The agency has handled the freight forwarding, customs clearance, shipping and land transport of the imports for the multi-purpose sports stadium at Ndola built by a Chinese construction company. The 50 000-seater stadium is due for completion in November this year. Copper, cobalt and manganese exports are handled through the Zambian agency. “We do the bookings here, and take control of the cargo at the port,” she says.