EL – PE airfreight demand takes off

GROWING DEMAND for airfreight out of East London is reflected in the expansion of Transit in the Eastern Cape city. Transit specialises in domestic airline consolidation. “There has been such strong growth over the past year that we have moved into new premises, says Transit East London branch supervisor Mike Boyce. Currently the company handles around 10 tons of airfreight a month. All freight travels by air rather than road as is the case with the majority of airfreight from Port Elizabeth. A freighter leaves East London at 19:30 in the evening, returning at 05:30 the next morning. “This allows us to have goods with our clients when business opens,” he says. There is also capacity on the daily Airlink flights between Port Elizabeth and East London. Transit is responsible for handling all the freight for the service, which offers three flights a day. Freight between the two cities is mainly small parcels and documents. The company opened its East London offices nearly four years ago, and has been growing. “We were the first on-line with the e-waybill system in South Africa,” says Boyce. The company also has strict security systems in place. “Everything is put in sealed bags before it is despatched. We also have CCTV cameras inside and outside the building to monitor the handling of the freight. “If there are any problems, we can go back and track every place the parcel was handled by us,” he says.