IN THE 13th place in the IATA Top 30 is Hellmann Worldwide. Its turnover in 2003 was R59.4-million, compared to R35.5-m in 2001, so Hellmann’s airfreight exports have grown by over 67% in two years. All this, said airfreight export manager John Evans, largely came from two sources. “We have had substantial growth in automotive logistics,” he said, “particularly from the Eastern Cape, and large volumes of textiles going to the US under Agoa (Africa Growth and Opportunity Act).” That, he added, was substantially where the company’s improvement in its figures came from – although general cargo, excluding textiles and automotive, also grew about 13% for Hellmann. The growth destinations, according to Evans, were the US – “cargo across the spectrum”, he said – and Europe and Australasia, mostly in automotive products. “We’re always looking at new product categories and testing the market,” Evans told FTW, “but we still obviously retain faith in our current categories.” Perishables is one of these new areas of focus. The company has been exporting this product for some time, but hasn’t been marketing it in a big way. “Now, however, we’re driving this in a major sense,” said Evans – boxing smart by saving on the cost of premises by outsourcing from the substantial existing facilities at Johannesburg International Airport (JIA).”
