Transport company focuses on long-term contracts

Border crossings and language barriers remain two of the major challenges in Angola, says Nic Hendrikse, marketing manager of FP du Toit Transport. “The opportunities, however, far outweigh the challenges as the country is seeing some major developments. According to Hendrikse much has also been done in recent years to improve the decaying infrastructure. “It has improved in leaps and bounds in recent times although there are still sometimes problems with some of the routes – especially during the rainy season. Despite this, Angola will however continue to see opportunities for years to come as it recovers from the aftereffects of the war.” Hendrikse says while volumes to the country remain dependent on expendable income and the country does not export significant volumes via road, the Angolan market is definitely growing. “This growth is mainly attributable to investments from abroad as well as capital expenditure by government in the mining, retail, construction and telecommunications sectors amongst others.” He says there is no doubt that work in and around Angola will increase and the company, one of Namibia’s providers of transport and distribution, will actively engage and tender for business. “It is the company’s philosophy not to participate in the general freight transport market, but rather to focus on building and nurturing long-term partnerships with selected key customers. We therefore conduct our business almost exclusively in terms of fixed contracts or other firm arrangements. Although diverse in terms of type and method of transport, these customers all have very exacting requirements that are written into the contracts as firm performance parameters – a philosophy we intend to implement in our dealings in Angola.”