Shippers and cargo owners miss out on potential logistics savings if they fail to constantly reassess their options, says Chris Chipimo, managing director of Bridge Shipping Zambia.
As an independent logistics company that “does not own a truck or a vessel”, Bridge is able to objectively evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the different transport options and the ports serving the region, he says.
The company offers warehousing, clearing and forwarding and logistics services in what is an everchanging business environment on the Copperbelt.
“Everyone is looking at the most affordable means of moving cargo, and the only way you can do that in logistics is by improving efficiencies.
“Road, rail and air each have their own strengths and weaknesses,” he says.
The company’s warehouse operation and logistics head office in Ndola has a rail siding along one side of its warehouses, with a truck yard on the other.
“We see rail and road as being complementary. There are places road cannot go but where there is a rail link, and places that rail cannot service.
“For us that means the two modes complement each other rather than compete. It is the wrong mindset for a shipper or forwarder to say they will only use road or rail,” he adds.
Chipimo points out that there are rail connections between Ndola and Dar es Salaam, Beira, Johannesburg and Durban.
Efforts by the rail operators and governments in the region to move freight back onto rail should, in time, make it more cost-effective when properly combined with road.
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It is the wrong mindset for a shipper or forwarder to say they will only use road or rail. – Chris Chipimo
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Bridge’s warehouse operation and logistics head office in Ndola.
