Logistics auto specialist set to expand African footprint

The South African subsidiary of automotive logistics specialist the GEFCO group is set to entrench the company’s southern African footprint. Officially launched in February this year, the company has embarked on a full-scale sales and marketing drive to offer its fully fledged logistics service – including door-to-door carriage, all the necessary customs formalities, storage management, quality control and distribution – to the automotive industry and other industrial sectors. Having established a presence in South Africa over 10 years ago via a series of partner companies, GEFCO supported PSA Peugeot Citroën in establishing its presence in the country by importing vehicles and exporting spare parts. “We will leverage our experience in the automotive industry to expand our footprint,” said GEFCO managing director, Francois van Wyk. “Opening our spare parts warehouse in Linbro Park in April this year, with a capacity of 8 000 sqm, also gives us a strategic advantage which we plan to capitalise on,” he said. And while the GEFCO operation is relatively small in South Africa, it is backed by the huge buying power from Europe, which has a global presence in 35 countries, with partners in 70 countries, he added. “We see enormous growth opportunities into southern Africa and South Africa has always been the ideal springboard from which to launch services into the region,” said Van Wyk. This, he believes, is due to the country’s relatively stable economy, and the fact that it has the right infrastructure in place and hosts numerous multinational brands. Van Wyk told FTW that the weekly less-than-containerload (LCL) solution launched in December last year had been well received by the industry and provided further expansion opportunities. In addition to its weekly sea freight service, GEFCO offers a daily airfreight service. CAPTION Francois van Wyk ... daily airfreight service also on offer.