Door-to-door express service keeps Angola-bound cargo moving

With its target set firmly
on Angola, one of the
world’s fastest growing
economies, Chavda Freight is
investing its money where its
mouth is.
Hannes Rust, managing director
of Chavda Freight, says thanks to
its oil exports and the construction
of housing and infrastructure in the
past few years, Angola is a mine of
opportunity for the Johannesburgbased
company that provides
clients with an integrated logistics
service which includes imports and
exports by air, sea and road.
“A large part of Angola’s
infrastructure was destroyed
in the wars or collapsed due to
the scorched earth policy of the
Portuguese when they abandoned
the country in the seventies,”
says Rust. “This means that an
enormous amount of effort is
now necessary to reconstruct and
re-establish this infrastructure. That
opens up several opportunities.”
According to Rust, who has
several Portuguese-speaking staff
members, there is big potential in
Angola, currently Africa’s top oil
producer.
“Language always remains a
barrier – and having employees
who speak Portuguese is not
only good for Angola, but also
for Mozambique where we are
currently sending a lot of cargo.
This country is also a new market
opportunity for us.”
Due to the congestion at the
Port of Luanda, Chavda Freight
is focusing much of its attention
on road. With the Angolan
government intent on building
roads, houses, shops and hotels,
trade with the country continues to
grow.
“We recently purchased a smaller
vehicle with a payload capacity of
eight tons to provide an alternative
for the big demand for roadfreight
express and consolidation loads
into Angola,” says Rust. “This
vehicle, together with a few
other contracted vehicles, will
be carrying consolidation cargo
and one vehicle will be leaving
Johannesburg for Luanda every
week. This will make us one of the
few companies offering a door-todoor
express service to Angola.”