While there has been a slight uptick in domestic and international cargo traffic in recent weeks, South Africa is struggling to counter the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown responses, according to Bidvest International Logistics (BIL).
Maritime cargo for January 2021 was down 15% compared to the same time last year, and according to the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff), there will be no “quick fix” to the situation.
February proved to be a much-improved month for air cargo, as the public started to adopt more positive sentiment towards flying, both domestically and in southern Africa, but Saaff warns that the short-term outlook is not expected to improve while the operational curfew persists, even if the medium-term outlook looks slightly better.
One of the hardest hit areas has been road freight where there have been severe cross-border transit delays on the North-South corridors – as Freight News has reported at length. According to Saaff, in one week in February the average cross-border queue time at Beitbridge was 19.6 hours, costing the industry an estimated R450 million.
While the air, sea and road freight environment may have been extremely challenging for logistics companies, they have found a way to not only maintain operational standards, but pursue new ways of thinking to deliver to clients, logistics major says.
