Growing volumes demand closer attention to security

Theft is still a major issue in southern Africa, and has a large cost impact on business, said Richard Poulton, sales and marketing director for Guardforce. He highlighted his own company’s efforts to cut this cost factor to manageable proportions. “We intervene to protect goods immediately on arrival, and prevent criminals from gaining access to the goods,” he told FTW. “In the case of transhipments, goods are kept secure from the arrival of the inbound flight to the departure of the outbound flights.” He sees the benefits as a lower incidence of theft and damage, reduced insurance premiums and excesses, reduced administration costs and no interruption to the supply of goods. “Overall,” he added, “it results in a reduction in unnecessary cost at a time when all companies are extremely cost-conscious.” Poulton noted that, too often, a shipment would leave in good condition but arrive pilfered or damaged on the other side. “Not enough security is provided at every stage of the logistics chain,” he said. “The need to avoid pilferage is very important. It partly arises from unemployment or low wages – where many use this as a means of supplementing their income. Probably more importantly, organised crime syndicates are also large players in these overall criminal activities.” Focusing specifically on the Namibian market, Poulton admitted that, while it was not an exceptionally large market at present for Guardforce, there were many valuable cargo shipments to and from the country – like cell phones and electronic products. “But,” he said, “volumes are expected to grow due to the fact that SA is served by multiple direct flights, and acts as a gateway into and out of Namibia.”