There will always be a place for the small, competent customs clearing and forwarding agent, according to Ron Meredith.
Those who are be able to cater on a personalised basis, and render the service required by large and small importers, will survive and succeed, he said.
Thus, small private C&F agents need not be afraid of losing out. There will be a role and gap for them to fulfil, which the larger C&F agents will battle to match - personalised and dedicated commitment. Meredith, however, does not see the medium-sized type of C&F agent being able to compete in the market place. You will either have to be big or small, he said. As he sees it, the future forwarders - in order to meet the requirements of both the supplier and the purchaser - will have to be global players with a network of own offices, or strong partners worldwide. This situation will especially apply with South Africa's major trading partners. Thus, future customers will be looking to place their business with world-class forwarding companies globally located, he said, who are able to offer total, integrated logistics and distribution services as a multimodal operation. With the potential breaking down of the tariff barriers, common rating of tariffs, and free trade agreements, more door-to-door delivered, duty-paid transaction requirements will be the major criteria in appointing and selecting of future forwarding agents, according to Meredith. The future development of the worldwide forwarding scenario would have to take into account the complicated, untidy and clumsy laundry-list of landside charges and fees, he said. Logistics at the local distribution and overseas level will have to be streamlined and less complicated. There are too many third-party costs involved. And the role of SAAFF in the future? More than ever before, said Meredith, I firmly believe that this organisation is going to play a dominant role in being the fine thread that draws our industry together. This as a strong vehicle, with muscle from which to drive our collective bargaining and standpoints. Agents previously sitting on the fence - deriving all the collective benefits without participation and commitments - will be the losers. In order to gain the benefits they will have to join and participate, otherwise they will be paddling their own canoes.
