South Africa’s warehouses rank right up there with the rest of the world in terms of certification, health and safety standards, and digitisation and automation.That’s the view of Hans Modipane, executive logistics, sales and marketing at SA Cargo Services, who believes there are several positive developments that augur well for the warehousing and distribution sector – among them the Cato Ridge logistics hub in KZN, and Jet Park on the East Rand in Gauteng. He admits, however, that the unrest experienced in South Africa in July hurt the sector. “In the short to medium term there will undoubtedly be a need to rebuild some of the capacity that was lost – particularly in KZN,” he told Freight News. “In the long term, in view of the recent announcement by Transnet that they want to quadruple volumes handled through the Port of Durban by 2030, there will clearly be a lot of growth for the sector as these volumes will require additional warehousing and depot capacity.”In line with this, said Modipane, Transnet had also advised they would be looking for private sector partnerships to develop the port and depots to handle the increased volumes.“This move is creating a massive opportunity for the sector and is very encouraging in the long run."
