Warehouse capacity trebled

On October 1 SA
Inland Logistics
(SAIL) will relocate
to new and bigger
premises in Durban as steady
year-on-year growth has
seen the company expanding
beyond the scope of its current
facility.
“We’re moving to a bigger
site with bigger warehouse
space and bigger yard space,”
SAIL’s Gerald Naidu told
FTW. “The fleet has grown
to 54 trucks and in excess of
70 trailers. Our new facility
will offer 6 000 sqm of
covered warehouse space – a
significant increase on the
current 2 000 sqm.”
Growth has been a
natural progression for
the company, according to
Naidu. “We’ve grown with
our customers. We started
off doing their transport and
this has gradually expanded
to include warehousing and
LCL movements.”
In tough market conditions,
innovation is key, and for SAIL
this has been a strong focus.
“In conjunction with a
team from India, we have
developed our
own in-house
operating
system – ERP
– and we are
seeing the
benefits of it
now.
“We have also
introduced an
android device
with very good
results.”
It enables
customers to sign for receipt of
their cargo on a wireless tablet.
“When a driver delivers cargo,
the customer signs the POD
(proof of delivery) and this is
sent back to the SAIL system
electronically. We are now
tweaking it so that it goes
directly to the customer –
which we see as an important
development.”
And according to Naidu,
SAIL is the only transporter to
have embarked on this on the
FCL side. “Courier companies
have introduced it but as far as
we are aware
it’s not being
done for FCLs.
“We’re
always looking
for ways of
doing things
differently and
better. We run
a true 24/7
operation and
that plays a
huge part.”
Once the
company has relocated to its
new premises, the warehouse
will be top priority, according
to Naidu.
“We currently have an
in-house warehouse system
that manages our line items
from end to end so that at any
given time we know what we
are controlling. The moment
an instruction is logged it
is visible to the entire team
instantly and as it changes the
change is also visible. We will
continue spending money on
information technology.”
Improving efficiencies is
however at the heart of every
development – and speedy
turnaround has been a
by-product of the company’s
efficiency drive.
“We bring a lot of LCL
cargo to our warehouse
which we are picking from
the various depots. We then
consolidate on Superlink
tautliners and send the cargo
to Johannesburg. Within 48
hours of picking up from one
of the depots we get cargo
delivered directly to the
client’s door. That’s how we
have engineered the LCL side
so that there’s no time lag.”
Twelve years since its launch,
the company now employs
70 staff in its Durban and
Johannesburg operations in
addition to at least 60 drivers.
INSERT & CAPTION
In conjunction with a
team from India, we
have developed our
own in-house operating
system.
– Gerald Naidu