Relationships with shipping lines play key role

KEVIN MAYHEW
DESPITE FREIGHT rate adjustments to correct the previously low freight rates that prevailed out of Durban port in recent years, the volumes to the east have been increasing, according to the manager of clearing and forwarding agent Shilo Freight & Logistics, Shaun Maharajh.
“The industry got too comfortable with low freight rates and they are correcting now. However, we believe that good relationships with shipping lines will still enable players to thrive,” he explains.
Shilo, now operating with full bonded and free warehousing capacity on site at its new premises in Seaview, has experienced substantial growth in overborder road transport, and is expecting a further boost when its export division starts operating – servicing mainly the east and west coasts of Africa and the Far East.
Shilo has homed in on the one-stop shop concept to provide its source to final destination package for imports and exports. Service delivery has been enhanced through its link with affiliated company Image Freight & Logistics which has carved a lucrative niche in the cross-border transport market in the past five years.