National drive for trade route growth

Recently appointed national business development manager of independent consolidator CFR Freight, Lee Viljoen, brings to the position 14 years of experience in the shipping, groupage and container depot sectors. Her immediate focus will be on growing the company's import and export trade routes with trade managers on a national basis. “Each month we’ll be focusing on particular routes, bringing out our agents more frequently and undertaking dual visits to build the trades at origin and destination,” she told FTW. While the UK, Port Louis and Jebel Ali were the focus last month, in September the company will be concentrating on Turkey and Spain. “Our Spanish agent Transglory will be in South Africa this month and together we’ll do a sales blitz. “We’re also providing special training on our operating systems so that our customers achieve the full benefit," she said. “Our email on demand (EON) – which provides email-based tracking – has already attracted positive customer response with a large majority of our customers booking their exports online.” In the ultra-competitive groupage market it’s about value-add, says Viljoen. “This is a big part of what we are selling – the route network, the benefits of our ZacPak licensed depot operation and, of course, our systems which provide the customer with a streamlined all-in option.” INSERT & CAPTION In the ultra-competitive groupage market it’s about value-add. – Lee Viljoen