Sea-air option via Dubai saves time and money from Far East

DUBAI OFFERS the ideal geographical location to serve SA air importers from the Far East at reduced costs by providing the same sea-air service the global freight forwarding firm Geodis Wilson currently offers to European importers. “We have analysed the Dubai hub option for an SA service. The position of Dubai between the Far East and South Africa can be advantageous to the air import client in SA who airfreights from Shanghai as an example, but wishes to save on cost. We have this system in place for Europe, shipping by sea from Shanghai and other more northern ports in China and Korea, offloading in Dubai, and continuing to Europe by air,” said Jan Ludolph, managing director of Geodis Wilson South Africa. Goods destined for SA and shipped by sea to Dubai from the Far East are then air freighted on Dubai’s air carrier Emirates, which flies daily to Johannesburg and Cape Town. Geodis Wilson maintains offices in those cities as well as Durban. The sea-air shipping service revolving around a Dubai hub would normally be employed for highvalue cargo. “Air freight is expensive from China per kilo to SA. But using the sea leg from China and then flying from Dubai reduces costs, although it adds shipping time when compared to air only services. We would calculate cost by sea to Dubai and then by air to South Africa and offer the client an all-in per kg rate that is 30-50% cheaper than normal airfreight rates,” said Ludolph. To ship from Shanghai to SA normally takes 25 days or longer depending on the carrier. The sea-air shipping service proposed by Geodis Wilson via Dubai shaves seven to ten days off the sea journey. Direct China to SA airfreighting via the usual airfreight hubs normally takes three to five days. “Dubai makes sense for two reasons. Its location is good, positioned between the Far East, Europe and South Africa. And we have the daily Emirates flights to OR Tambo and Cape Town,” said Ludolph. European shippers currently using the Geodis Wilson sea and air service through Dubai offer a hint of the type of goods that might move this way to SA. “To Europe we are moving a significant amount of higher value dense electronic goods from china," said Ludolph