Wholesale courier, African
Destination Network (ADN),
is upbeat about growth in crossborder
trade after a good 2014 and
expectations of an even better year
ahead.
“We are bullish about Africa
as there continue to be very good
opportunities in the region,
specifically around mining in
northern Mozambique, Angola and
Kenya,” said ADN director, Paul
Danvers.
He noted that while Angola was a
difficult country in which to trade, it
was one of Africa’s fastest-growing
economies. He said that ADN had
been fortunate to find a good route
and a good on-the-ground partner to
facilitate trade to the country.
But there are several challenges
that could undermine Africa’s trade
growth, including infrastructure
deficits, said Danvers. He conceded
that “much progress” had been
made with regard to infrastructure
development on the continent but
pointed out that developments were
not happening fast enough to keep
up with increased demand.
“Furthermore, a lot of the
infrastructure changes take place in
and around the main trading sectors
and there are no changes in the
outlying areas where we do a lot of
business,” added Danvers.
Another challenge is the ongoing
changes to rules and
regulations and
fluctuating rates.
“Zimbabwe’s
transport rates,
for example,
change from week
to week. And with
some countries
there is often no
prior notice of
regulatory changes,” said Danvers.
ADN manages this by having
a strong network of agents on
the ground across its African
destinations to ensure the company
has up-to-date information on any
changes that may affect rates or
speed of delivery.
Danvers told FTW that while
Africa remained a strong growth
focus, ADN had also just finalised
a larger network outside of the
continent with distribution to
and from the Far East, United
Kingdom, the Middle East and
the United States.
INSERT & CAPTION
We are bullish about Africa
as there continue to be
very good opportunities in
the region.
– Paul Danvers
