Beira-based J&J Transport is on a training and recruitment drive in order to help drive down logistics costs for shippers in the region who make use of the port of Beira.
“We are striving to be more than a trucking business. We are also very active in the warehousing business to help optimise our customer’s supply chain,” says group chief executive officer Nicholas Kyrzakos.
Having invested heavily over the past decade in systems, facilities and vehicles, the company is now “bringing out the best skills from local talent around the region” in order to maximise the utilisation of its assets.
“We have put everything needed together to support our customer’s value chain in order to reduce costs and raise our levels of service. Our recruitment and training drive will ensure that we have the right skills,” he says. As part of its five-year plan, J&J is focusing more on its Zambian operations. The Lusaka hub is being upgraded and paved. “Our footprint is being extended in the Democratic Republic of Congo through the Lusaka office.”
Kyrzakos believes that recent investments in the port and the dredging of the channel have made Beira more attractive.
“The port of Beira has been greatly enhanced over the last couple of years – and that includes the dredging and the new container gate as the port operator, Cornelder, has invested heavily in port improvements,” he says.
The J&J Group welcomes Cornelder actively marketing the Beira corridor. Executives from J&J were part of a Beira Corridor Group delegation which recently held briefing sessions in Lusaka, following a successful corridor day earlier in Harare.
“We are seeing good volumes in and out of Zimbabwe. At present the traffic is well balanced, with an increase in imports of foodstuffs and exports of minerals and cotton. There is huge potential to attract more tobacco to Beira that is currently routed via SA,” he says.
Kyrzakos pointed out that the Mozambique government had spent over US$400 million to upgrade the ENG6 highway which runs from Beira all the way to the Machipanda border. By doing so, it has made this corridor safer and easier to travel, he says.
We are striving to be more than a trucking business. – Nicholas Kyrzakos
