Dar es Salaam-based Galco
Transport and Logistics
has identified South
Africa as the launch
pad for its southern African
growth initiative.
The company moved into
its Allandale premises in
Johannesburg on March
1, offering 5 000 sqm
of warehousing space.
It’s part of a
broader regional
growth initiative,
according to general
manager Moses
Kachunda.
“The priority for us
is to have a trucking
fleet in South Africa
by the end of the year
in order to service
the whole of southern
Africa,” he told FTW.
Galco, which
originally operated as
an in-house logistics provider for its
parent company, a trading business,
was launched four years ago as an
independent integrated logistics
service provider.
“It was a logical
development,” said
Kachunda. “We had the
facilities and we understood
the needs of the shipper.”
In a recent development,
a Galco operation has
opened its doors in
Kenya with an
inland container
depot offering
port clearing
and road
transport
and serving
Uganda, Rwanda
and southern Sudan.”
The company
is active in Dar es
Salaam, Mombasa,
Beira, Durban, Richards
Bay and Walvis Bay –
and in-house facilities
are an important part of its value
proposition.
“We have our own fleet of trucks
and have never outsourced,” said
Kachunda. “That’s
the service we sell
– we are able to
maintain control
on behalf of the
client. We have
150 trucks in
Zambia and 600
in Tanzania – and
South Africa will
be added to the
mix by the end of
the year.”
Kachunda is
upbeat about
growth for the year ahead, but
adapting to market trends will be the
key to success.
“At the moment there’s huge
growth in agricultural activities
in Zambia and as a result there’s
a lot of fertiliser going into the
country because they don’t have
the production capacity. Hard
commodities are also beginning to
improve and we’ve seen a significant
increase in the number of inquiries
for copper. And when you move
copper it means
you also need to
move sulphur for
purification – so
that trajectory
may be there
for the short to
medium term.
“In terms of
containerised
cargo, stability
in Rwanda
and Burundi
is creating
opportunities for
us and we’ve seen a steady increase to
Rwanda.”
In a competitive market it’s about
responding to the client’s needs, in
Kachunda’s view.
“If a client insists on cargo identity
we give him a portal in our tracking
system so that he can track his own
trucks. And pricing is competitive.”
The priority for us is to
have a trucking fleet in
South Africa by the end of
the year in order to service
the whole of southern
Africa.
– Moses Kachunda
