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.
