The South African freight industry’s entrepreneur extraordinaire, Warren Erfmann, is back in the headlines. The former CEO of Barloworld Logistics Middle East & Asia, Erfmann this week announced his acquisition of the Swift Freight Group of Companies from Barloworld Logistics (BWL). The acquisition involves 100% of Swift’s global operations, except for Dubai where he holds 70% of the freight forwarding division – effectively the part that deals with Africa. As a consequence, the name Swift Freight International will cease to exist. BWL has renamed the non-Africa portion of the business that it has retained, Barloworld Logistics. The 70% of the Dubai operations that Erfmann has acquired will now trade under the name Swift Freight. Swift Freight in Dubai, under the leadership of Erfmann, will continue to operate from the same four premises and the approximately 150 staff members have already been transferred from BWL. South African born Erfmann began his career in the freight industry in 1989 and at the age of 24, in 1994, co-founded ZA Trans, which was acquired in 2004 by BWL.
