US logistics group targets SA

JOY ORLEK
HAVING HONED its skills on the logistics and supply chain management needs of South Africa’s PG Group subsidiaries - Shatterprufe and PFG - US-based Sentinel Global Logistics has embarked on an aggressive drive to expand and diversify its southern African client base. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the PG Group, Sentinel’s major focus until now has been on warehousing and distributing automotive glass products for Shatterprufe over the past 25 years. Today the company is actively canvassing manufacturers of a variety of products, both import and export, to be consolidated at its Charleston hub. “Our key service would be order fulfilment and the complete distribution function from within our facility,” general manager Mike Martini told FTW from his Charleston headquarters. “We warehouse, manage and distribute any size of product line for the South African exporter across the length and breadth of the USA. “Our company mission is to partner with customers, thus enhancing their supply chain operation in the USA while they focus on product development, strategy or whatever their core business may be,” he said. And in terms of order fulfilment, Sentinel’s technology allows them to pick, pack, repack and customise shipments. “Exporters can ship their products to us in bulk and we can break down the product and distribute from there,” says logistics manager Thomas Snyder. Sentinel’s Charleston facility includes 10 000m2 metres of warehousing, strategically located between all the port terminals in Charleston, within a 5-8 km radius of the two main port terminals. The company was established in the US 35 years ago.