SACD extends focus to dry cargo

Ray Smuts
IT WAS by all accounts a humble entry for SACD into transporting containerised perishables, but having counted the dividends, its focus is changing to capture a significant slice of the national dry cargo cake.
The way Geoff Popple, SACD’s marketing director sees it, it was clear from initial (perishable) customer feed-back that more of an integrated transport system was required between the Port of Cape Town to the company’s depot and vice versa, combined with electronic CTO processing, a procedure that well and truly only kicked in about a year back.
It was, in Popple’s words, a “fairly small beginning” but he has every reason to be pleased with SACD’s record in perishable transportation confined mainly to the Mother City and Port Elizabeth.
“On perishables we are doing about 60 loads a day in Cape Town alone. Roughly 50 000 TEUs annually of dry cargo, perishable cargo and empty containers are moved on a national basis for a turnover of some R40 million.”
It is a performance Johan Dobies, SACD’s Cape regional marketing manager also lauds, backed by felicitations from a customer base consisting in the main of fruit exporters and shipping lines.
Given the success of containerised perishable transport - not suggesting for a moment that SACD is turning its back on this vital export component - the thrust has moved toward capturing a more meaningful slice of dry cargo business.
In this regard Popple asserts: “We are working closely with Bidvest subsidiary Bidfreight Intermodal on the rail component of transport, mainly from Gauteng, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, and continually increasing on-carriage of cargo unpacked out of LCL and groupage boxes for movement either to Gauteng or down the coast.”
In Durban alone between four and five Super Links are moved mainly to Gauteng each day, equivalent to 240 Cube - “and growing”, maintains Popple.
The way Dobies sees it, SACD’s objective is to extend its purely Cape Town involvement in dry cargo, currently comprising 30%, to 60%, by the end of July 2003.
“ Nationally,” says Popple, “dry cargo comprises around 95% of our total business and we expect to have handled 1,2 million tons by July 2003, an increase of between 20% and 25%. year on year, much of it derived from exports.”
SACD’s transport operation in Cape Town is managed by Etienne Marx and Dobies is hopeful that should discussions with Spoornet prove fruitful, the Mother City could soon be accepting and dispatching full and empty containers by rail. All other national SACD facilities have active rail sidings and Bidfreight is working closely with Spoornet to facilitate the shift in cargoes back to the rail system.