THE MOVEMENT of cargo to neighbouring countries in Central Africa by road is fraught with challenges, but that’s the special focus at FATS. “Lack of infrastructure has always made this difficult and recent developments have taken their toll, in particular creating a great imbalance of shipping line equipment,” says a company spokesman. “This has resulted in the shipping lines totally withdrawing the facility of dropping off empty containers at destination. Coupled with fuel increases, port congestion surcharges and exorbitant shipping line container deposit costs, this has prompted us to seek viable alternatives to the conventional routing of imported cargo via the ports of Durban and Johannesburg. Dar service “Earlier this year we established a service into Zambia via Dar es Salaam. While shipping lines sell a through service via Dar es Salaam, they are not able to offer the facilities required by many clients in these regions like proper routing from port of load, daily tracking and fixed costs.” FATS is currently investigating the establishment of a freight forwarder routed service into Malawi and Zimbabwe via Beira to extend the same type of facility to clients in these regions.
