The massive impact of Covid-19 has put the Gauteng market under significant pressure.According to Nic von Flemming, key accounts manager for neutral consolidator CFR Freight, this was mostly due to the backlogs in the supply chain had seen traditionally anticipated efficiencies curtailed.“The market is still faced with a tough situation,” he said.
“Pre- and post-Covid orders, which have needed to be ready for urgent export and import, continue to be forced into a congested supply chain where the delays are causing havoc.”
He said delays into and out of the country through congested ports and changes in carrier scheduling represented a hurdle on the attempted road to recovery. These multi-faceted delays have impacted supply chains, thus impacting negatively on efficiencies in the country’s economic heartland.“Gauteng joins the rest of the country in continuing to look for relevance and competitiveness in cost-focused global markets,” said Von Flemming. “Clients are faced with a balancing act between servicing the backlog in demand, whilst facing abnormal 4th quarter volume demands. Traditional procurement models have come under strain in accurately forecasting needs.”
He said the constrained market, however, offered a huge opportunity. CFR relies heavily on all four areas of the Group (ocean, air, road and depot) working in unison. “Information f low, speed to market and cost efficiencies are no longer the exclusive domain of multinational super-corporates. The presence of ever-more capable e-commerce portals and tech platforms offers small to medium entities the agility demanded by the current market.
“Further to this, for CFR Freight the pricing of airfreight vs ocean freight and the climbing box rate pricing magnifies the efficiencies offered by a stable, reliable LCL product.”He said Gauteng, much like the rest of the country, was treading the tightrope between resurfacing demand, an unstable power grid and global economic figures.
“Flexibility and the capacity to be agile to the varied needs of a diverse client base are vital traits of an ideal partner. For an LCL environment, there is the pressure to retain committed sailings and schedule integrity for our global offering with the Worldwide Alliance and as a neutral NVOCC.”
He said the company had experienced success in ensuring that all of the ZacPak depot capabilities remained relevant to specific regional market needs. “In Johannesburg, the operation is geared to be a fast-paced transit warehouse – primarily focusing on getting goods released to clients at optimal turnaround time. We have found there is also a call for niche collaborations.
