TRANSTECH LOGISTICS
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TRANSTECH LOGISTICS
Logistics Solutions to Connect
Southern Africa PRODUCTION: William Denstone
Founded in 1997, Transtech Logistics is Southern Africa’s freight specialist and offers comprehensive and integrated solutions throughout South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and its country of origin, Malawi.
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Having perfected its comprehensive, integrated and total freight transportation solutions over the past 20 years, Transtech Logistics stands as Southern Africa’s freight specialist. Its services span collection, clearance and delivery, with the company having honed the craft of conveying all kinds of cargo. This can include break bulk, containerised, hazchem and abnormal freight, in addition to its regular
transportation of a vast assortment of other commodities, as Managing Director Ufulu John Loga sums up with an insight into the exhaustive list of products Transtech carries. “We move food, agricultural chemicals, farming implements, steel, fertilizer, maize, groceries, cotton, tobacco, timber, paper, grain and many other goods,” he explains. “Our product portfolio is diverse and that helps us gain new business and spread risk.”
AN EYE ON EXPANSION Since its founding, Transtech has achieved rapid and sustained growth, overseen in recent years by Loga, who gives an idea of the operational scope now at the company’s disposal. “We have around 140 people and 100 trucks in our fleet,” he outlines. “We do have plans to expand this further, but this is of course dependent on how the economic situation develops. Although we have seen reductions in
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INDUSTRY FOCUS: LOGISTICS
spending from some customers due to the current uncertainty, we have managed to remain successful thanks to our versatility, operating in different countries and different industries. “We don’t look at ourselves as simply a transporter or a logistics firm; we are a complete service provider,” is how Transtech Logistics’ business manager Chokani Mhango sums up the company’s approach to this diverse scope of capabilities. Transtech’s wish to facilitate its customers’ entire supply chain - meeting the demand for both manufactured products from South Africa and beyond, as well as various raw materials and agricultural products from southern Africa - is one of the central pillars underpinning its enduring success. As Mhango himself underlines: “We are positioning ourselves in this very exciting space, where we are able to connect our southern African clientèle, with both SA and international manufacturers, and at the same time connecting agricultural exporters in
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// WE HAVE MANAGED TO REMAIN SUCCESSFUL THANKS TO OUR VERSATILITY, OPERATING IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES // Malawi, Zimbabwe and so on with our international customers. “That’s why our slogan is ‘Connecting the African Continent’.” AMPLE OPPORTUNITY The transport logistics industry in Africa, and particularly in South Africa, is developing quickly, which brings with it numerous new opportunities for companies like Transtech to turn into profitable business streams. On the flipside, it is positioned to employ its skills and experience to overcome the inevitable challenges which accompany any such opening. In its ‘Addressing the Challenges of Transport Logistics in South Africa’ publication, Belfreight underlines the
critical importance of this sector to a country’s prosperity. “It’s no exaggeration to say that cargo logistics is the backbone of any country,” it concludes. “Logistics services are responsible for bringing our food, drinks and other consumer goods to supermarket shelves. Logistics is also how we get the petrol that goes in our cars, and how South Africa as a growing economy is able to participate in the world economy through imports and exports.” This is good news for Southern Africa as a whole, but South Africa in particular, which tops the list of the most developed transport and logistics sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa, placing it on a par with some of the world’s leading industrialised countries.
TRANSTECH LOGISTICS
SOUTH AFRICA’S STRENGTHS Other findings of PwC’s ‘Africa gearing up: Future prospects in Africa for the transportation & logistics industry’ report revealed South Africa to be regarded as the best performer in Africa when it comes to trade facilitation logistics, and among the best in terms of its transport infrastructure. “As Africa has risen to prominence as an investment destination over the past few years, so the role of transportation and logistics has taken on greater significance,” asserts Klaus-Dieter Ruske, PwC Transportation & Logistics Global Leader. “Whether moving resources off the continent or bringing goods and services into its burgeoning economies, Africa’s future growth and development will depend on the quality of its infrastructure and the efficiency of its transport networks. “There is a fast growing demand for the vast raw commodities available on the African continent. Africa has an abundance of oil, gas, and mineral resources and significant opportunities for agricultural expansion. For logistics companies prospects in the retail and manufacturing sectors are also significant and lead from a period of sustained growth experienced by many African countries,” adds Andrew Shaw, PwC Transport & Logistics Leader for South Africa. PERSONNEL IS KEY “Today, we have one of the largest and most advanced fleets in Malawi. Because of this, we take a large share of the market,” Loga begins by way of conclusion, as expansion moves closer to the forefront of Transtech’s thoughts. This is all meaningless, of course, if a company’s staff does not possess the skills required to maximise the resources at its disposal, which is why attracting the right people forms such a key element of the company’s strategy.
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// IT’S NO EXAGGERATION TO SAY THAT CARGO LOGISTICS IS THE BACKBONE OF ANY COUNTRY // It is particularly important with the logistics industry’s reputation for being so labour intensive. “As management, we strive to create a corporate work environment that is second to none,” explains Chokani Mhango. “Our recruitment policy endeavours to attract highly qualified individuals with a passion for this industry and we, in turn, strive to provide our personnel with a very exciting and challenging corporate environment that promotes free thinking, career growth and selfimprovement. “As a very wise person once told me, a person who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow
is uneducated the day after,” Mhango says, of the need to ensure that employees feel engaged and satisfied beyond the simple receipt of a salary. “In the global economy that we’re in today, we’re faced with new ways of conducting business on a daily basis and it is therefore critical that our teams are up-todate with latest systems, the new procedures, the different regulations and all the new opportunities that business of today demands.”
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May 2018
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