Tender activity bodes well for mining industry uptick

The outlook for the mining industry this year is positive, according to Chris Scott of Customs Services, which has for the past 25 years specialised in providing logistics for the import and export of mining and earthmoving equipment. The best business barometer, in his view, is tender activity. “A lot of this business is on tender – and it’s a long process before these tenders reach fruition. We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of tenders for which we’re supplying information and have also seen a lot of capital equipment moving into the country – which is a positive indicator for the year ahead.” Customs Services imports predominantly from the USA, South America, Europe, China and the UK, Export destinations include Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique. And while the first six months of 2010 registered a significant downturn in mining-related business, this trend has already reversed. “We handle a lot of business for one of the major mining companies and when the crunch hit they reduced their import budget by 50% – and that filtered through in the first half of last year. But by the second half of the year volumes were already on an upward trajectory.” Issues like the lack of breakbulk capacity is just one of the challenges facing the industry, while locally the challenge is always the inland leg from the ports to the mines. “We outsource abnormal road transport to the experts because the cargo is worth millions of rand – and skilled providers are few and far between.” According to Scott a number of local manufacturers are making headway in markets like China, which is importing SA-manufactured mining equipment. “We have a number of orders on the books and can see that the mining and earthmoving industries are picking up. We may not be back to where were two years ago but there’s no doubt that it looks very promising.”