Despite troubled economic times, a relatively ‘new-onthe- block’ inland haulage company has some ambitious development plans afoot. In the three years since its launch, CMKCD (Cargo Movers Kaserne Container Depot) has worked hard to devise tailor-made solutions to suit customers’ needs. Its offices in Cape Town were opened in September 2007 and already branch manager Lance Leo is planning to move to larger offices in Paarden Eiland. “This is because I will be employing more staff to handle the operational and admin-related functions so that I can dedicate more time to ‘growing the branch’ through sales and marketing,” Leo told FTW. Business in Cape Town last year was fairly quiet, admits Leo, as the branch started making in-roads into this new market. “But from July/August, volumes picked up, creating a very positive outlook for 2009.” Local transport being the bulk of CMKCD’s Cape Town business, both importers and exporters to the Mother City prefer road rather than rail right now, and so rail volumes from Cape Town are “minimal”, adds Leo. At present road traffic out of Cape Town outweighs rail transport by a massive 95%. “However we still market this service as obviously rail is definitely a far more cost-effective means of transport and a better option if we want to maintain our roads.” Leo is concerned at the destabilising effect of rate-cutting among smaller operators, but believes that ‘zero-defect’ service is what ultimately counts.