ZA Trans hints at plenty of new developments

RAY SMUTS
IF GROWTH were to be the hallmark, one need look no further than the Durban branch of ZA Trans Logistics as it reflects on a successful year and anticipates a burgeoning year ahead.
“The way it’s going, we are about to outgrow our current premises after only 12 months,” says branch manager Roy Ishripersadh.
ZA Trans (Durban) has been a dominant player in the Natal clearing and forwarding business for about seven years, moving into new premises in Ebonyfield Avenue, Springfield Park, in September 2003.
At that time the branch fielded a complement of six, since increased to 20 including a four-member import-oriented sales team headed by John Horsley.
The incorporation of ZA Trans into the Barloworld Group earlier this year is no doubt momentous for the company but Ishripersadh asserts it would be wrong to assume the Barloworld connection is tantamount to a sudden flow of hand-outs. “We will have to tender for the business just like anybody else.”
He is optimistic about prospects for the year, hinting at a lot of exciting happenings in the pipeline.
On the export side, ZA Trans is benefiting considerably from Agoa, dispatching up to 100TEUs of textiles from South Africa and neighbouring countries to the US per weekly sailing.
Imports, around 250TEUs a month, are mostly bound for Durban and Johannesburg and include such commodities as mining and plumbing equipment, tiles and conveyor belt systems. The branch is not involved with cross-border imports.