Overborder specialist plans Angola expansion

Service delivery is the key to ‘staying alive’ in the global economic crunch, says Cross Border Cargo (CBC) managing director, Mario Nortje. And while he foresees even more challenging times ahead, he is confident his company can deal with it. “We found 2008 to be a challenging year, and yet we managed to finish well, with good results achieved in the last quarter,” he told FTW. “We know there will be even more challenging times ahead, but we will be encouraging innovation and differentiation in service delivery to our client base.” Based in Brackenfell, CBC is in a highly competitive industry and Nortje believes the actual movement of cargo to a destination is only a fraction of what his clients expect. “Real-time information regarding the status of shipments over the border is what is required. And ensuring accurate ‘info’ is passed on regarding the status of cargo becomes a challenge, especially when moving through several countries with several borders to be cleared.” And when it comes to ‘staying alive’ in the business, he believes careful management of debtors is vital. “Looking after cash flow is a major concern, and it is the smaller enterprises that are most likely to be forced out of business due to lack of financial resources.” Despite these worries CBC has exciting prospects ahead this year, in particular the building up of its Angolan business. “We have established a network within Angola and plan to offer a groupage roadfreight service ex-Luanda into the provinces. “We are also launching our airfreight division this year which poses its own unique challenges – lodging big guarantees with the lines being one of them. “This is a major goal for us, and we plan to develop a solid division in air exports that can rival our mainstay revenue earner – that of roadfreight exports. “We are implementing a new freight management system and hope to pass the benefit on to our customers by the end of this first quarter.”