Need for speed eclipses cost issues

DESPITE PER kilo cost, a lot of heavy cargo is airfreighted into Africa, thanks to the continent’s many mining activities, says John Evans, one of the directors of the Johannesburg forwarding firm Fastpulse. Spare parts, heavy machinery and building materials are just some of the bulky cargo needed in the quick time only provided by air delivery when the alternative is bad roads, customs delays and cargo theft, according to Evans. “Africa is our core business, and the mining community is our speciality. We’ve got the experience and so have our customers when it comes to overcoming bad roads using air. For rush jobs they prefer air to any other mode,” he told FTW. “Tanzania, Kenya, the Horn of Africa, Angola, DRC – we do a lot of running around,” said Evans from his office at OR Tambo Airport, where sea freight is also arranged for customers. But experience has again shown that sea transport, which usually requires a road leg to bring goods to destinations, encounters customs and security problems, in addition to delivery delays due to port congestion. A recent example was the theft of valuable items at the DRC border, although these were kept in locked metal boxes. Fastpulse also arranges insurance for clients. With air, we don’t have pilferage problems,” Evans said.