A named-day consolidation service has been launched on the Zambia-South Africa route through a partnership between Transtech Logistics and Bester Clearing and Forwarding. “This will service both Lusaka and the Copperbelt. We know that SA exporters traditionally have cargo ready towards the end of each week so we decided to load every Friday and despatch from our Kya Sands facility on Saturday mornings,” says Hilton Tait, business development manager at Transtech logistics. The company is building on its experience of moving cargo on the Malawi route. “A lot of the SA exporters on our books also have business in Zambia, so we are hopeful that the good service rendered on the Malawi route will pay dividends and we can secure the Zambian cargo,” he told FTW. “We are also looking at an add-on consolidation service via Kitwe to the DRC. The aim would be to service both Lubumbashi and Kolwezi. “At present exporters must either pay a fortune for a small dedicated load or consolidation via a transporter who despatches only when he has a full load. “Departures would be weekly. We are busy finalising the pricing model and SOPs in order to launch this product in Q3”. Transtech operates its own connected and modern fleet and has “proper driving training programmes, back-up breakdown plans, and a complete network of agents to speed up the border process,” he says. The company is also carefully monitoring what is happening on the other routes. “In my opinion the SA route is losing ground to other corridors, but not as badly as was anticipated, partly because of external factors and not because of SA port efficiency. “Durban port is not doing itself any favours with its poor productivity, but there are still a lot of transporters in SA running to Zambia at competitive rates, which are helped by the domestic exports from South Africa to Zambia,” he says. The transporters are living off exports from South Africa and cutting rates on return loads, which are then shipped through Durban. “Luckily for SA ports the freight rates to Beira are still higher than Durban, which negates the cheaper inland landside costs.” The implementation of VAT on transit cargo through Dar es Salaam has added a big cost to the route, he adds. “Walvis Bay seems to be the most effective competition to SA ports.”
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We are also looking at an add-on consolidation service via Kitwe to the DRC. – Hilton Tait