New 'lowline' container caters for micro-distribution market

05 May 2000 - by Staff reporter

A MOVE to smaller consignments, delivered more frequently is the trend in domestic product distribution identified by logistics company Fast Forward.
In a national market which has everything from courier to bulk freight operations, with general freight in the middle, we fall into the 400 kilogram-10 tons class of distributor, said Pretoria-based regional sales manager, Dupie Roselt.
Fast Forward had been achieving this goal by using 3-ton containers.
But, said Roselt, our market research highlighted the fact that the consumer market no longer wanted to hold stock - because of the cost of this dead money.
It also wanted to move away from the need for expensive investments in warehousing, Roselt added.
Without this storage space, he said, it was now looking for distribution operations like ours to move one consignment from one consignor to one consignee.
The answer? Move less, more often - on a door-to-door basis, said Roselt.
Fast Forward could offer this service - but the 3-ton containers were now proving oversized to meet this lower volume demand.
Our answer here, said Roselt, has been the new lowline container. This holds 1.34 tons of goods. Half the size of our standard unit, and specially designed for the micro-distribution market.
It's a niche marketing type of tool which Fast Forward has already successfully used.
Meeting other specialist demands are insulated containers for the cool chain distribution market; ventilated containers for successful transport of fruit; and shelved containers, designed to allow the transport of goods which are too fragile to be free-stacked directly on top of each other.
The latest market development stems from customers shifting to JIT (just in time) distribution, Roselt added. They're not consolidating for bigger consignments now, he said. Neither suppliers nor buyers want to stock goods any more.
Move less more often. That's the trend now.