Moving house keeps people employed

A team of women in
Port Elizabeth has been
packing and unpacking
homes for more than 11
years.
Headed by specialist
house and vehicle
exporter and importer
Nadene Butcher of Ibhayi
Freight, the women would
otherwise be unemployed.
“They have been
working with me for the
past 10 or 11 years, and
are well trained. We have
very few complaints about
breakages,” says Butcher.
At present, the team is
doing more unpacking
than packing.
“We are seeing more
people coming home than
going at the moment,” she
says.
Ibhayi clears both
exports and imports of
households, and also
arranges for delivery. “We
try hard to clear the cargo
before it arrives in order
to reduce costs and delays
for our clients.”
A number of people are
also bringing their cars
and motorcycles back with
them. Ibhayi arranges both
ro-ro and containerised
importation of vehicles,
she says.
Containers are usually
unpacked at the new house
within a day in order to
save on demurrage and
labour costs.
Families leaving South
Africa are also being
more selective about what
they take. There has been
a definite shift away
from full containers to
groupage cargo.
This creates its own
challenges when packing
the household as any
items of furniture must
be individually crated in
order to prevent damage.
All other items are
boxed and then loaded
onto crates where they are
shrink-wrapped before
being despatched for
consolidation.
“We don’t let clients
wait, and send it with
whichever shipping line
offers the fastest delivery
time,” she says.