Satellite tracking now extends as far as southern Tanzania

KEVIN MAYHEW
VEHICLE SECURITY on the thousands of kilometres of road that link southern Africa has now been extended with the aid of elements hundreds of kilometres in the sky.
High value and sensitive cargoes can now be tracked by satellite from Cape Town to the southern part of Tanzania, according to the managing director of Wadeville-based Discount Freight, Jakes Ambaram.
“We now regularly use satellite tracking on selected containers to destinations that were previously not covered by the footprint and response capacity of the tracking companies.
“Since we started using the new systems we have had no incidents with our consignments going as far north as southern Tanzania,” he told FTW.
He added that security problems were largely concentrated on the South African side of the journey rather than across the borders.
“We breathe a sigh of relief when high value cargo exits South Africa,” he added.
Satellite tracking provides a constant monitor of vehicle movements and alerts to unscheduled stops or detours. Special clamps are also fitted to the container doors making it difficult for criminal elements to open the doors without special equipment.
Discount Freight adopts other technology to secure its loads. It uses closed circuit television to record packing and vehicle movements within its Wadeville warehouse.
Focusing mainly on the consolidation of cargoes to selected destinations north of South Africa, it offers a fully-fledged EDI computerised export customs clearing service.
Recently Discount Freight was nominated as one of South Africa’s Top Emerging Empowerment Companies in its business sector by Impumelelo: South Africa’s Top 300 Empowerment Companies.