Failing to plan is planning to fail

“ANY FREIGHT forwarder with a forward vision should by now be fully geared and part of the infrastructure explosion that our province is currently experiencing. More importantly, they should be planning for the era past 2012 when internal infrastructure created will need to be sustained by identifying new areas of possible revenue streams within the supply chain,” says Francois van Wyk, group operations director of Sebenza Forwarding & Shipping. This is exactly what Sebenza is doing. The executive committee of the company, which has just celebrated its tenth anniversary, has designed a five-year strategic plan which is focused on the correct positioning of the company through the 2010 hype into a sustainable portfolio beyond 2012. “Sebenza, with a traditionally import client base, has deployed a national export drive to balance our client portfolio – and the results are now showing. The current strain on our industry from ridiculous fuel surcharges, in some instances higher than the freight rate, has fortunately had a minimal effect on our volume of business in Gauteng – due to our client base being mostly corporate and parastatal, regular importers and exporters. We would imagine the commodity and retail importers are taking strain under these circumstances, with the somewhat volatile rand being a major contributor.” Sebenza’s USA and European routes are still leading volumes – and with the support of its international network partner Emo Trans – it claims to be very competitive with a very high service level. The only restraint for the company is air carrier capacity. According to Van Wyk, Africa being infrastructure- and technologyhungry has opened up huge opportunities for the company from its current portfolio of clients. With each of the six national offices being geared for specific requirements, Sebenza’s client base ranges from the telecommunication and adjacent sectors through to the military and heavy engineering sectors, with a comprehensive basket of services. “Our province is currently booming and our industry should be grateful for the huge opportunities out there. Our multinational friends must however guard against selling turnkey shipments from outside of our country, thus stripping our local forwarders of dearly-needed revenue streams. We have to plan our future as an industry, and place formal industry training right on top of the ‘to do’ list,” Van Wyk concludes.