Fledgling truck broker offers capacity on tap

GARETH COSTA JUST THREE months after being launched, truck broker Go Freight has already attracted three large – R1million plus a month – and 10 medium sized clients to its fledgling business. “We are concentrating on high volume, lower margin business and very seldom do once offs,” says Andrew Viljoen, Go Freight’s general manager, national freight and specialised vehicles. “Our aim is to bring together high profile clients and reliable truckers, meaning small to medium sized owner-run truckers with a hands-on approach. We have found that the bigger guys have certain commitments to specific clients and if capacity is constrained some of the others lose out. With the variety of trucking companies on our books we can’t run short of capacity. “At the moment we have a base of about 200 trucks and one of the bigger guys has dedicated twelve to us for a large FMCG retailer operating in Zambia, while there are a number of smaller operators who have committed eight to ten trucks.” Aside from Zambia, Go Freight also services Maputo, Namibia and Botswana on an ad hoc basis for the moment. Judy Russel, general manager cross border, says demand is so strong her operation is currently battling to meet it. On the local front Go Freight has a focus on the four main cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth and cross hauling for large courier companies. “We are looking at entering into the logistics business of large customers to help them reduce their operational costs and broke out their loads at better rates. “We have also started hauling for cross-docking operators. The service is run mainly from Durban to Johannesburg,” says Viljoen.