Overnight transporter would welcome 24-hour border post

Acquiring a reputation for speed and
reliability is every overnight delivery
service company’s goal. But a single
missed delivery is enough to tarnish
the credibility on which a firm’s
business relies.
“We have to move every day
because we offer a service. People
know that if they use Speedy they’ll
get their deliveries that day. We
go every day even if our truck isn’t
full,” said Willie Stuart, owner of
Speedy Overborder Services
of Swaziland.
“We can’t allow any compromises.
A lot of our customers deal with
Mozambique. They say to their own
customers, ‘Come at twelve and your
shipment will be here. We’re using
Speedy’,” said Stuart.
Ensuring reliability has led
Stuart to focus on transporting into
Swaziland from SA. “We’re not in
the export business. Our trucks go
out empty, always have. We tried
doing exports but found that a truck
could be stuck at a customer waiting
to load and the rule is we can’t be
late at the border,” Stuart said.
A company truck arrives at Speedy
Overborder’s Johannesburg office
in the evening, loads, and returns
immediately to the Swaziland border,
where the driver sleeps at the locked
gate until the 7am opening, when
he is at the head of the customs
queue. By mid-morning the truck
arrives at Speedy Overborder’s main
office at the Matsapha Industrial
Estate. Consignments are moved to
delivery vehicles for quick transport
to customers.
That routine may end if the
Oshoek border’s extended hours
planned for the holidays remain as a
permanent 24/7 operation.