NVOCC unfazed by challenges around Chinese New Year

While there are concerns around the “normalisation” of the backlog at South African ports before the pre-Chinese New Year rush, neutral consolidator CFR Freight remains unfazed as it has solid contingency plans in place. “There are a series of plans in place,” CFR key accounts, sales and servicing consultant, Nicholas von Flemming, told FTW. The company’s teams in Asia were geared to handle this challenging time with teams of skeleton staff, he said. “Our national grid of owned container freight stations will allow for prioritisation of cargo, extra working hours and improved efficiencies to be implemented.” CFR’s airfreight general manager, Stephen Bishop, added that the company had blocked space agreements on its major routes, “which allows us to box capacity during the peak requests just prior to the Chinese New Year to help alleviate any potential delays.” Responding to concerns raised by industry around increased congestion at the Port of Durban following damage to key operational equipment during the major storm earlier this year, Von Flemming said: “In Recent weeks we have found creative solutions to honour our scheduling commitments. Whilst it has been extremely challenging, we will emerge stronger for it.”