‘Hands-on approach makes the difference’

Cargo owners are increasingly
opting for airfreight to transport
their project cargo.
According to Mike Barnes,
business development manager
of Gotrans Freight Services, sea
freight remains the most popular
choice for moving large pieces of
equipment – and generally most
project cargo will be brought into
the country this way. They are
however picking up on a trend
that airfreight is being considered
on a more regular basis as project
developments need to meet
deadlines.
“We have recently moved huge
machine pieces of up to 18500kg
each by air,” he said. “We
have also noticed a trend in the
project market where entities are
expanding production, particularly
in the mining sector, and some of
our clients have doubled and even
trebled capacities over the past
three years or so.”
This bodes well for the industry,
he told FTW.
“As the global economies turn
their attention toward Africa and
its resources, we believe that
volumes of cargo will increase,”
he said.
Gotrans Freight Services, which
specialises in project as well as
general cargo by air, road and
sea, has been involved with some
extremely large shipments from
the USA and China to both South
Africa and Botswana mines in the
past few months.
“We have found a key part of
our core competency in this arena
is that of a complete hands-on
approach. That means being part
of the scheduling and shipping
while being physically present
at the ports on discharge and or
loading of vessels,” said Barnes.
The project cargo sector,
however, comes with its own
particular set of challenges. “We
face some obstacles at times in
finding the right equipment at
the right time and at the right
price to handle the movement of
abnormal cargo within southern
Africa. Also, in a number of
circumstances, the permit fees are
high and add significantly to the
final cost of the entire movement
of cargo.”