Malawi and Zimbabwe tobacco crops fill thousands of containers

CLIVE EMDON WHEN THE Malawi and Zimbabwe tobacco crops are ready to be shipped, the container cabotage industry gets to work to supply more than 3 400 containers. Among the front-runners is Swift Container Logistics which moves several hundred containers into position for packing crops. Based in Durban and wholly owned by the Bidvest Group, the company is represented in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique. Swift specialises in container leasing, container sales and refurbishment, container cabotage and the recovery and repositioning of empty containers. Although annual tobacco export volumes are decreasing in Zimbabwe, the opposite is true in Malawi and Zambia. According to freight logistics company, Manica Zimbabwe, the tobacco crop amounts to around 40 million kilograms a year, equating to the packing of 1400 12 metre containers. Manica Malawi says the Malawi crop is in excess of 110 million kilograms, which needs more than 2 000 12m containers. Niki Warren, Swift operations manager, says that in conjunction with the major shipping lines the company has developed a unique container placement method that is based on crop forecasts and export dates. It calls on a pool of dedicated road hauliers to position containers at specified depots by specified dates. Tobacco factories can coordinate resources by sharing real-time information with suppliers. She says the business design is based on the just-in-time (JIT) purchase method.