R1,5m investment in fleet renewal programme

New Durban branch completes
World Net’s national network Joachim Bade . . . joint venture with German supply chain management company BLG Leads Logistics. Joy Orlek GROWTH AND expansion have been the order of the day at World Net Logistics which now offers a fully representative national office network. A Cape Town office opened in February, headed by Guntram Herles, and August 1 saw the launch of a Durban branch managed by Jens Heinemann. Both will be looking after the existing client base in their regions as well as drumming up new business, says chief executive officer Joachim Bade. In another significant development, World Net has entered into a joint venture with German supply chain management company BLG Leads Logistics in Port Elizabeth and East London. BLG’s specialisation is automotive logistics which complements World Net’s niche involvement in consumer electronics. The joint venture agreement sees World Net staff based in BLG offices, and vice versa, says Bade. World Net has seen exponential growth over the past few years. It is the sole South African representative of the Waco network, a worldwide grouping of entrepreneurial logistics companies with only one representative in every country. The IATA turnover of the worldwide Waco network would rank sixth if the network was assessed as a single entity, while World Net this year made its mark in the local rankings, achieving 28th position in terms of IATA export airfreight turnover. To support its growing business needs, World Net will invest a further R1,5m in a fleet renewal programme this year The Gauteng office recently relocated to custom-made premises in Longmeadow with 6000 square metres of warehousing on site, 800 bonded and 5 200 free storage. While it is still largely airfreight orientated, significant growth in the ocean freight sector has seen the mix of business moving to a 60%-40% ratio of air to sea.