As the seafreight routes
to Asia – one of South
Africa’s biggest global
trade partners – remain
constrained in terms of
available space and as
freight rates continue to
rise, non-vessel operating
common carriers’
(NVOCCs) guaranteed
less than container load
(LCL) space is becoming
more attractive to
shippers.
“We must remain agile
to ensure that as a service
provider we are geared
to assist in all areas of
the market – and one
of our main challenges
is to tailor our service
offerings to help specific
clients optimise their
own services to their
clients,” said Nicholas von
Flemming, CFR Freight
key accounts sales and
servicing consultant.
As part of this, he said
it was important for a consolidator
to ensure it continued to offer its
clients the full range of export
services, despite space, rate and
other constraints.
“Equally, the viability of
smaller direct trades in the face
of renewed full container load
(FCL) aggression by
carriers needs
constant revisiting,”
Von Flemming
pointed out.
He told
FTW that
a neutral
NVOCC
could
play a
key role
in helping
to keep clients’
costs down.
“We continually
develop a series
of strategies
in this regard
which we
communicate to our
customers,” said Von Flemming,
highlighting that LCL was geared
for underf low and overf low loads
which were a natural consequence
of intra-regional trade.
“It is therefore
critical that we, as an
NVOCC, continue to
invest in as many direct
sailings to replicate the
FCL offering the consignee
demands,” he said.
“As we are considered an
extension of their
business by
many of our
clients, we
are privy to
information
and
business
sensitivities
that allow us to
tailor services,
direct sailings
and products to
their needs,” Von
Flemming said.
