Lesotho project creates freight opportunities

Lesotho’s growing economy has seen infrastructure developing and projects such as the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) providing good opportunities for the freight industry. According to Hilary Woelk, managing director of Kayhil Freight Lesotho, the country saw a 4.0% gross domestic product growth in 2012, according to World Bank data, and more South African businesses have invested in the country. “Our outlook for business growth in Lesotho for 2014 is therefore cautiously optimistic,” he told FTW. Two of the greatest challenges to freight transport in Lesotho is that there are no off-loading zones and the infrastructure on entering the country still operates on a manual system, says Woelk. “The government is however very committed to growing trade and is working on creating computerised systems to fast-track border crossings,” he says. Kayhil Freight, which has always been highly computerised according to Woelk, has linked its customers to the company’s system, allowing it to notify clients of every step of the supply chain. “This makes our service highly measurable and allows our clients to keep track of the progress of their goods,” he told FTW. Woelk says that a “major bugbear” is the new South African Revenue Service (Sars) modernisation programme. “It is great when the system is up and running but it’s down often and it can take up to three days to get the system up again which creates frustrating delays,” he said. It is his opinion that the staff on the ground simply do not know what to do when the system goes down. “And this happens every week.” CAPTION The Katse Dam is one of the Lesotho Highlands Water Projects that will open up growth opportunities for the freight sector in Lesotho.