Happy landings for sea-air service for sea-air service

A combination of sea and air freight services out of the Far East into Zambia is helping importers save costs and time, according to Sudhir Balsure of Barloworld Logistics (Zambia). The SAM (sea air model) service uses scheduled vessels from the Far East to Dubai, where the freight is repacked for air freight to Lusaka and to a number of other African countries. “Our objective is to be faster than sea, and cheaper than air,” he says. Using this service, it takes around 28 days to carry freight from a port in the Far East and have it landed in Lusaka (pure air freight takes 10 to 12 days, according to Balsure). “Dubai is used as a transit hub as it’s a leading port in the world plus offers easy air connections to several countries in Africa. This makes transportation affordable, faster and convenient to the shipper,” says Balsure. It’s a more cost-effective option than airfreight for importers of highvalue goods like cosmetics, clothing and furniture. Balsure believes the sea air model is a transportation boon to African land-locked countries where sea ports are not available and air freight is not always affordable. “SAM is not only cost-effective, it’s reliable.”