Expolanka targets trade growth between India and Africa

CLIVE EMDON A SRI Lankan freight forwarding company ranked by IATA in 2005 as the 3rd largest of 452 freight forwarders in India is about to embrace new trade between Africa and India from its Spartan, Johannesburg office. Expolanka Freight is planning to develop its general groupage business from its network of 19 offices in India and Pakistan. “It is only natural that they are looking to take up the opportunity of getting a share of the existing trade between South Africa, India and Pakistan,” says Shehan Seneviratne, the South African director of Expolanka Freight. He says the company enjoys a strong African presence with nine of its own offices in South Africa (Johannesburg and Durban), Kenya, Mauritius, Madagascar, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana and Rwanda. The company is planning to open new offices in Burundi, Ethiopia and Sudan this year. Operations manager Mano Dhassiah sees potential for developing new project cargo business through the company’s existing branch offices in Africa. Seven members of the Southern African development Community (SADC) – Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, and Angola – import raw materials for textiles as well as a wide range of commodities from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Major exports from the region include ready-made garments manufactured for buyers in the US and Europe. Expolanka exports 2 000 containers a year from South Africa to the US and Europe and imports 600 containers from the Far East. Part of the company’s planned new trade with India in 2007 involves the establishment of new offices in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. “We are looking at improving our share of the import market, especially from the Far East. This is where our coastal offices will play a major role.” Expolanka has operated in Johannesburg for the past three years and has a staff of ten.