World Groupage Services director Andrew Daley (left) discusses future plans for US imports with Carotrans chief executive John Hepworth.
Charleston service cuts transit time
LEONARD NEILL
RECENT CHANGES in the United States shipping industry are causing concern on the South African route, says John Hepworth, chief executive of US forwarding company Carotrans International.
The route is relatively small in global terms, but offers opportunity to global traders, he told FTW on a brief visit to South Africa last week when he met locally based partner World Groupage Services (WGS).
“South Africa used to be almost exclusively a consignee market and astute South African shipping managers and clearing agents would select carriers and groupage operators which best suited local needs. Now we are finding more and more forwarders and major exporters in the US making global decisions in their own country for their own convenience and based on global volumes.
“This can be disadvantageous to South African importers and local agents who are looking for a competitive edge, such as shorter transit times, lower US cartage costs and a wider choice of SA ports.
“Carotrans and WGS have, in our 10 year relationship, striven to provide this edge with our unique service from Charleston, often saving as many as 14 days off the traditional New York transit time, and our recently opened Port Elizabeth service.”
Hepworth was accompanied on the visit by Carotrans vice president sales, Michael Forkenbrock.
“We are here to cement the relationship with WGS which has become one of the market leaders in both groupage and FCL business on the US/SA route,” said Forkenbrock.
Although the local company name includes the word ‘Groupage’, it is handling an increasing number of incoming full container loads, says WGS director Andrew Daley.
“The development of the automotive and pharmaceutical industries has been responsible for this and we welcome the increased traffic. But we are still active in the depacking of groupage containers at our warehouse. The success of our partnership with Carotrans in the US has enabled numerous other agents to piggyback on our operation as well.”
