Excellence enters groupage market

JOY ORLEK TWO YEARS since the opening of a Cape Town branch, marketing efforts are paying handsome dividends for Excellence Forwarding, says Johannesburg-based director Hans Houniet. Capetonian Chris Beukes has been appointed to manage the branch, and with more than 15 years experience in the industry and in the region, he has started to see an upturn in volumes handled. “We originally opened our Cape Town office for a big export client who subsequently closed his doors,” said Houniet. “When that base fell away we started aggressively marketing our services to new business, and we’re now beginning to reap the benefits.” Adding another string to its bow, the company recently entered the groupage market, securing the Damco worldwide agency in South Africa. “We are doing groupages into Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, and have seen a growing demand for our consolidation service.” Excellence Forwarding handles a range of products, outsourcing its warehousing and distribution operations. Perishables is one of the markets which it hopes to penetrate, based on its expertise in the field.