There’s a great moment in Apocalypse Now when Robert Duvall, playing a lieutenant colonel in the Vietnam War, kneels down to tell a couple of soldiers, against a backdrop of tropical bush set ablaze by an aerial bombardment, that “there’s nothing like the smell of napalm in the morning”.
Considering the battleground that customs can be, especially given all the supply chain disruption that seems to have become the norm since Covid, cargo clearing expert Michael Henning likes to recall a similar anecdote when he was “walking the mile” of freight forwarders at OR Tambo International Airport, servicing clients.
“I asked one of the agents why he was working in such a crummy building, and he said: ‘Ag, you know Mike, once you’ve smelled jet fuel…’”
For Henning, the general manager of software as a service (Saas) provider Easy Clear, it sums up the cargo clearing industry a bit like The Eagles song Hotel California: “You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave.”
“Once the bug of this business has bitten you, you’re in it for life.”
Talking to Henning on the eve of the company’s 20th anniversary over the weekend, certainly takes one back a bit, to a time when the size of computer hardware, powered by disk operating systems (DOS), was directly inverse to its clunky capacity, and cursors were little blinking blimps on green screens.
“In 2004 (when the company was founded by CJ Pagel and Paul Ramdaloo), the thinking was to provide a Windows solution to what was predominantly still a DOS-based method for computerised cargo clearing.”
Henning says that even in the company's early days, when AI was just two letters not denoting artificial intelligence, it was clear that Pagel and Ramdaloo were onto something that would ease the way of cargo agents.
“CJ and Paul were doing exciting things with Windows. It looked fresh, new, and different, and it was. It’s also still the case with Easy Clear today, as we continue to reinvent things. We have moved from Windows onto a proper Saas platform, which has enabled us to incorporate mobile technology and all sorts of things we are working on right now.”
Apart from getting stuck into software, Henning says CJ put in the hard yards, driving up and down to borders like Beitbridge and back, “to the extent that he could almost do it in his sleep, developing things on the fly as and when the need would arise for our clients.
“It was a case of eat, sleep, repeat.”
Those early heady days, from Excel spreadsheets, to disk, to electronic data interchanging, created a good foundation for a company that will always remain true to its roots, getting stuck in the trenches on behalf of their clients.
“Some of them are still with us,” Henning says.
“We grew from strength to strength into a company that employs 32 people, with offices countrywide, and a satellite presence at various borders across the region.”
Looking ahead, Henning says it’s interesting how cargo clearing in the modern milieu seems to have become more complex, reminding the company of how important it is to remain true to its DNA.
“At Easy Clear we try to bring that complexity down a notch. Clients shouldn’t have to spend hours and hours trying to figure out how to input data. Processes should be easy. That’s the whole point behind Saas.”
He says that although the systems and services they offer bring stability into the supply chain, there’s always the unforeseen.
“Then you have to think on your feet and be there for your clients,” a bit like CJ, back in the day, when he was rushing back and forth between Joburg and Beitbridge to help keep the goods flowing.
The same interventionist spirit was in evidence in January when Easy Clear helped to facilitate a shipment of steel from South Africa to Ghana, marking one of the first initial milestones as part of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTFA).
With President Cyril Ramaphosa in attendance when the vessel left the Port of Durban for Accra, Henning says it was an honour to play a small part in something so significant.
“But I believe we can do even more. I believe it’s possible for inland revenue services from various countries to work together, for example, but we must also realise there will always be moments when different stakeholders do things differently.
“We all work with different platforms and have different goals, but when it comes to the situation on the ground, it’s important to be practical.”
Level-headed problem-solving is the essence of what has retained Easy Clear’s clients, Henning says.
“Without their loyalty and belief in what we do we wouldn’t be where we are today. There’s tremendous satisfaction to be had in helping a client and knowing you can make a difference.”
Easy Clear headed to Monte Casino on Saturday to celebrate their anniversary in grand style.
Founding member CJ Pagel with a staff member (2nd last photo). Paul Ramdaloo and Michael Henning enjoy a cocktail moment (they lose the shades when they conduct business).
