Forwarder invests in own trucks

JUST SHORT of a decade since the opening of its first airfreight office at Lusaka airport in Zambia, Atlantic Freight Forwarders (Anasi Ni Nkondo) has recorded significant expansion in parallel with the country’s burgeoning economic growth. Johannesburg-based import and export co-ordinator William Tembo says Zambia has been a ‘potential’ market for some time. “In the past we relied on West Africa, but now Zambia is number one for us.” The company has diversified into sea and roadfreight in addition to its airfreight focus, and expanded its southern African network. It now has offices in Lusaka, Johannesburg, Ndola, Chirundu, Livingstone and Nakonde, with Harare on the planning boards. “We have a number of larger companies on our books, with the majority of our business involving exports from South Africa into Zambia,” Tembo told FTW. “Since October last year there’s been a boom in mining activity and mining equipment has taken off. We are also finding growth in our seafreight shipments to Europe, the US, West Africa and Uganda.” However, the main problem at the moment is lack of capacity, says Tembo. “We sub-contract all our roadfreight business right now but expect to take delivery of two to three trucks in the near future. “We have found that companies wanting to move cargo urgently are having to wait up to a month because of lack of capacity – our own truck fleet will give us the flexibility to ensure that our customers needs for urgent delivery can be met.”