‘Strong partnerships are key in Far East market'

Having the correct partners and agents is a key ingredient for successful operations with the Far East. According to Kevin Taylor, Far East trade manager for International Liner Agencies (ILA), there are many challenges to overcome when dealing with the diverse market that is the Far East – and having a good partner or agent acts as a good guide. “ILA builds up solid relationships that last for years,” he said. In China the company had the same agent for the past 15 years representing them from the north to the south of the country. “With reciprocal visits twice a year, ILA has invested heavily in understanding and growing the Far East market,” said Taylor. “Through continuously trying to improve our service offering and value-added products, we offer a delivery service that helps improve efficiencies, reduces man hours and assists pressured forwarders if they do not have vehicles available.” Taylor believes that the Far East is a crucial market for South Africa. “We rely heavily on their finished products. South African manufacturers are in most cases simply unable to compete with the pricing from the East, which encourages South African consumers to look elsewhere for cheaper products.” He said ILA partnered with forwarders regardless of whether they were niche market or global players to offer a competitive product. “While volumes in China have declined this year, they have now stabilised,” he said. “On the other hand volumes have drastically increased from South East Asia on the inbound route. Outbound traffic has been growing month on month from the start of 2012.” He said many Chinese products were being manufactured in South East Asia. “It is for that reason that we have now partnered with an agent in South East Asia to represent us in the entire region.” His outlook for 2013 is one of hesitant optimism. “2013 is not expected to be a great year for the Far East but I still think with the right mix of dynamic sales people and operations people backing them up, you enable yourself to get a bigger slice of a smaller pie,” he said. CAPTION Kevin Taylor … ‘investing heavily in understanding the market.’