Vehicle transport specialist builds on Africa expertise

A decision to build on its expertise
in the movement of vehicles
in South and Southern Africa
through new business ventures has paid
handsome dividends for Onelogix – a
JSE-listed company with an intrinsic
understanding of the social, economic
and legal environment in the region.
“In our DNA we have the capability
of understanding how to go through
border posts and how to manage
business in southern Africa,” says chief
executive officer Ian Lourens.
This has been applied with pleasing
results in its Vehicle Delivery Services
(VDS) division which moves vehicles
for OEMs (Original Equipment
Manufacturers) in and around South and
southern Africa and has offices and a
fully-fledged depot in Harare as well as
an office in Lusaka.
“On the basis of that skill the
company recently acquired abnormal
load specialist RFB Logistics and
commercial vehicle delivery service
CVDS and is making them operative in
Africa as well,” said Lourens.
“We have the skill to move through
the border very quickly. We intrinsically
understand how to speak to customers.
We know how to get fuel – which is a
big problem – and how to get it at the
right price.”
It’s now a year since the purchase of
RFB Logistics, and the philosophy is
paying off.
“One of the reasons it was attractive
to purchase RFB was because we
could take that business that was only
operative in South Africa and expand it
to the rest of Africa.
“Abnormal load businesses deal with
the infrastructural sector. Our view is
that southern Africa will become a big
market in due course and we see this as
a nice positioning for ourselves”
“It was a very good business to begin
with and in addition to the natural
organic growth we have managed to
bring on additional business in southern
Africa – effectively it’s been a double
kicker.”
And that’s what they’re looking to
do with CVDS – a commercial vehicle
delivery service for trucks larger than
3.5 tons.
“Mercedes, Toyota and Volvo are
our big customers – and based on the
service we were providing in other
vehicle delivery sectors they pushed for
an expansion of our service portfolio.”
And it’s clearly related to service
quality – which is carefully monitored.
“For the past four to five years we
have without fail achieved top marks
from all our OEMs.”
And part of that is staff buy-in, says
Lourens, with driver remuneration a
good example.
“All our drivers are trained in South
Africa and they are paid better than the
market rate. In addition to their basic
they get paid an incentive for on time
delivery, paperwork in good order and
so on.
“If they score well they get a good
bonus so they’re working with us to get
those good scores.”
A simple business philosophy that is
clearly working to the benefit of all.