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.”