Document specialist keeps supply chain moving

KEVIN MAYHEW MESHING THE systems of South Africa and those of Zimbabwe is the work of Irral Naude of Border Documents and Monitoring, with a particular emphasis on refrigerated loads. Situated at the Gateway Truck Stop, Naude and his team of three people are there solely to process the paperwork for loads north or southbound in order to facilitate the movement of trucks as they pass over the country’s primary northern border. Drawing on a background in forwarding, Naude believes that he fills a very real need in the supply chain which is beneficial to all parties – the exporter or importer, transporter, driver and the border authorities. ”We are the hands on people for all parties concerned. The drivers appreciate what we do because they hand everything to us and we clear the way for them to proceed smoothly. The exporter or importer on the other hand relies on us to keep them up to date on the progress of the consignment, which is particularly important considering that the bulk of what we handle is perishable,” he explains from his office which is very heavily reliant on information technology. “We utilise technology to keep our clients updated about progress and glitches – many times we have to deal with a potentially disruptive incident like a traffic fine that must be paid or a load that must be shifted to make it legal, and of course the inevitable mechanical failure. These are all minor irritants that have to be addressed and we position ourselves to do that,” he told FTW.