‘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.”