IT provider meets comprehensive needs of perishable industry

From bills of entry to phyto-sanitary certificates RAY SMUTS THE ACHIEVEMENTS of the Wright Brothers and Johannesburg-based Compu-Clearing may differ greatly but what they do have in common is a pioneering spirit, the latter a provider of IT products and services to the South African freight sector for 23 years. CEO Arnold Garber had a different tack when approached for an interview for this supplement, suggesting I talk instead with a customer to determine the degree of satisfaction. He came up with Grindrod Perishable Cargo Agents, which immediately made it clear that it was highly satisfied with Compu-Clearing’s services. “Their softwore works brilliantly for us and I am very happy,” said operations director, Mike Campbell. “Compu-Clearing’s application allows us to process all our export documents, from the waybill, to bills of entry, to department of agriculture phyto-sanitary certificates.” Based at Johannesburg International Airport, with branches in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and George, Grindrod Perishable Cargo Agents focuses strictly on airfreight perishable exports and uses Compu-Clearing’s software for documentation, airline bookings, debtors and invoicing. The company airfreights some 2 100 tons of perishables a month to overseas destinations – commodities such as lobster, abalone, fruit and frozen meat, and about 367 tons a month within South Africa. Compu-Clearing is currently preparing a tailor-made domestic software system for the company which should be up and running within three months. For the financial year to June 2006, Compu-Clearing gave back less than R300 000 in penalties and damages on a R36 million turnover. Its customer list resembles a Who’s Who of the freight sector, including British Airways, Birkart International, Sky Services, Bachmann Megafreight, MSC Logistics, Meihuizen International and Air France Cargo.