COMPANY PROFILE
2015
Trans-Tech Logistics
+27 119631238 | www.transtechlogistics.co.za
company profile
Connecting the African continent Editorial: Ajuanne Payne
With over 15 years’ experience transporting goods and a track-record for reliable, quality service, one of the companies forming the backbone of regional trade in Southern Africa is Trans-Tech Logistics. It is a company that has the local expertise that is so essential for the large clients it serves and in this issue of IndustrySA we look deeper into what makes this logistics company tick.
The highly diverse region of Southern Africa has been growing and transforming over the past decade at a fast rate compared with global economies. Rich in assets with large areas of untapped agricultural and mineral promise, Southern Africa, alongside the wider growth story currently playing out across the continent as a whole, is set for further exponential growth and development in the years to come. But what are the key factors that will affect the smooth development of these burgeoning economies? In order to achieve progress there has to be a spirit of collaboration; and it will be the region’s ability to facilitate successful regional economic integration that, along with infrastructure investments, will be a vital foundation of this evolution.
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Trade across regional borders is increasing and an effective logistics network is one important factor facilitating this. With the slogan ‘Connecting the African Continent’ summing up the company, Trans-Tech Logistics are a leading Southern African cross-border freight specialist with the capacity to serve customers in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, but with plans to expand its reach further into the continent. Offering comprehensive services encompassing collection, clearance and delivery between the locations it services, Trans-Tech serves clients across a wide range of industries in Southern Africa; including mining, food, agriculture, chemicals, retail, tobacco and timber, to name but a few. Chokani Mhango, business manager for Trans-
Trans-Tech Logistics
Tech, explains the origins of the company further: “it was formed in 1997, out of Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi with the full purpose of transportation services within the Southern African region and grew over the years as the Malawi South African route became a strong route. “Initially an agency used to manage our South African business for us and the head office of the company was the Malawi office. But, as time went on and our strategic values and goals changed, we decided to move the head office to Johannesburg and as a result, open our own offices here in 2013.”
A DIVERSE OPERATION Trans-Tech’s main focus is on moving manufactured products from South Africa into Southern Africa and in return moving agriculture products out of Southern Africa into South Africa, focusing on the regional trade
requirements of its clients. “We’ve got a number of contracts,” explains Mhango, “we move a lot of paper and paper products into Malawi and Zambia from South Africa and from overseas. We move machinery in to different mines in Mozambique - there are some big mine projects going on in Tete and we work for Vale Mine transporting various products on their behalf. “We move concrete sleepers and railway parts; we move a lot of bitumen, for the building of roads into Zambia, into Zimbabwe, into Mozambique and into Malawi for different road construction projects that are being run there. “On top of that we also move groceries. We have an agreement with retailers in Malawi and we move all their grocery & household products for them,” says Mhango. The company also transports a lot of sugar out of Malawi. As one of the country’s key exports, about 60,000
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company profile
tonnes a year, Trans-Tech is contracted as a transporter in that industry, and is responsible for some of the trade in that precious commodity in the region. One of the company’s biggest areas of business in Malawi is construction and it subsequently has a lot of work in moving construction materials, such as cement. Delving into yet another industry served by TransTech, Mhango says the company has “recently acquired a new contract for moving packaging products and materials for fast food retailers in Malawi and we also move a lot of soft drinks to locations in Malawi and Zambia. “Lastly, out of Africa and into South Africa we move a lot of tobacco, normally to be shipped to Europe. We move the cargo directly to the port containerised or break bulk, which is then shipped to whatever destination it needs to go to,” he says.
PLANS FOR AFRICAN EXPANSION The company has a smooth operation that already works within four economies in Southern Africa and an organic step forward for Trans-Tech will be further expansion of its footprint into other Southern African countries.
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“The drive, energy and work ethic that the managing director has is what drives the rest of the operation and the rest of the staff”
Trans-Tech Logistics With the fourth largest port for the Indian Ocean at Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, there is a lot of trade going on in the coastal country, and Mhango can see the company taking steps to take advantage of the favourable market there: “It’s a strategic one for us because it’s a very big port for the Indian Ocean and a lot of shipping traffic on to the continent docks at Dar es Salaam. A lot of our clients in the northern parts of Malawi and in East Africa rely on that Tanzanian port, so that is something we are seriously considering moving into. “Angola is booming as well because their oil production has really jumped up. When the oil price was still attractive, they were one of the fastest growing economies. It is still an opportune time to start looking at Angola; I know the oil prices have dipped but we all know that it’s temporary and when oil prices return to their peak, Angola will be somewhere strategic to work with,” says Mhango. “We also want to expand in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and we are growing our fleet so that we can start doing more domestic work.” With plans in the pipeline for further geographical expansion, Mhango stresses the importance of the area in which they are already an established leader. “Our stronghold is the Malawi route. We are the biggest transporter between South Africa and Malawi and we want to ensure that we keep that.”
“We also want to expand in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and we are growing our fleet so that we can start doing more domestic work”
KEY PROJECTS Some of the important contracts that Trans-Tech is currently working on are very much centred on large infrastructure projects that are ongoing in the Southern African region. Malawi is a land-locked country, and as such a key focus for its government is developing the country’s export infrastructure – i.e. better connections to port facilities. One huge project that is contributing to this is the Nacala Corridor railway, currently being built between Malawi and Mozambique, which will eventually export national resources straight to the Nacala Port in Mozambique and is expected to be carrying around 18 million tonnes per year by 2017, allowing the country to have access to the sea at a lower cost. Mhango explains the role Trans-Tech is playing in the $1 billion project: “we are moving various cargos for that project on behalf of a huge European construction company that procures out of South Africa. “We are their primary transporter – we move
P.O. Box 145, Midrand, Gauteng, 1685 East Rand Head Office: Plot 59. Road No. 5, Brentwood Park 011 973 4585 Fax: 011 973 4181 Email: grant@fullertrain.co.za www.fullertrain.co.za
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company profile everything they need for the railway in terms of the train tracks, the railway sleepers and all of that into different parts of Malawi and Mozambique where the construction is taking place for the railway.” As an evident testament to the good reputation of the company, Trans-Tech has also won another contract with the Procurement arm of the same company on a different infrastructure project – transporting bitumen for road construction in Malawi. Another of the company’s clients, are installing electricity and phone lines in the Central Region of Malawi and Trans-tech is transporting the wooden poles for this project from South Africa. At the same time it is working again with another mine in Mozambique on a big coal project in Tete alongside another South African Procurement and Logistics firm. Trans-Tech is a valuable asset to large corporate
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“Our stronghold is the Malawi route. We are the biggest transporter between South Africa and Malawi and we want to ensure that we keep that”
Trans-Tech Logistics clients operating in the region - it is a local company that really knows its market inside-out and brings with it the expertise to get the job done well and at a competitive price.
LOOKING AHEAD With an impressive client list already, Mhango explains that the company is gearing up to take the steps needed to ensure it can continue to provide a premier service to its clients, revealing that the company is expecting to heavily invest in expanding its fleet in the next five years. Trans-Tech is also looking towards increasing its service offering to include freight-forwarding and border services, with plans to partner with ship and air liner companies to enable it to provide a complete in-house solution for its clients. With such a diverse client-base, and healthy prospects for further geographical and service
expansions on the horizon, Mhango places the responsibility for the company’s success firmly at the door of its managing director and staff. “The drive, energy and work ethic that the managing director has is what drives the rest of the operation and the rest of the staff,” explains Mhango. “And we have very good staff personnel - everyone is willing to give 110%. People don’t just clock in and clock out - they are happy, they enjoy working here. We are always constantly training our staff members and just trying to better them as individuals as we know that that will benefit them and the effort they give to the company. “Lastly, we are always trying to be better - we are signing new clients every year. In the bigger pool we are still a small fish, but we have so much more growth opportunity and that’s what we’re looking forward to,” he concludes
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