August 1 saw the launch by specialist over-border transport operator Greendoor Group of a consolidation service on the Johannesburg-DRC route.
The service would build on the company’s established presence on the route, said divisional manager Sandra de Kock. “We run our whole fleet on three main corridors – Mozambique, Zambia and the DRC,” she told FTW. “We’ve been offering a consolidation service to Zambia for some time and were getting more and more enquiries for the DRC, which is why we’ve decided to offer the same service to the DRC.”
Initially it won’t be a door-to-door service. “Goods will go into a bonded warehouse in Lubumbashi but as volumes increase we will look at a door-to-door option. Clients can either collect from the warehouse or we can arrange internal transport once goods are cleared.
“Frequency will depend on volumes, but we’ll start on a monthly basis, increasing to a fortnightly and hopefully a weekly service over time.” On the southbound leg, copper makes up the majority of cargo out of the DRC and Copperbelt, with northbound cargo comprising anything from machinery, mining equipment and supplies to chemicals. The company is fully Hazchem compliant.
“Once we confirm the southbound leg we already schedule the return loads,” she said. And while transporting into Africa is not for the fainthearted, Greendoor is confident of a smooth ride.
“Changes in legislation are always a challenge, but we have been running our main fleet on the route for many years and expect the operation to run smoothly.
“With consolidated loads the challenge will be to get the clients and volumes to maximise payload which is likely to happen quickly because we have had so many enquiries already.”
Transit time to the DRC is generally two weeks – but for consolidations this is likely to be stretched to 18 days. “Instead of clearing one line entry at each border post you may have 50 lines which will be time-consuming.” The company does however have systems in place to streamline border crossing.
“We prealert everyone at the borders to ensure that all clearing codes are correct and only then send the vehicle.” Clients will be requested to use our nominated clearing agent on both sides to ensure speedy clearance.
In an additional development, Greendoor has opened a broking division which De Kock heads up and which extends its service offering to include the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.
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We’ll start on a monthly basis, increasing to a fortnightly and hopefully a weekly service over time. – Sandra de Kock
