Transit volumes destined for Zambia are on the increase but Durban port inefficiency is holding back further growth, according to Aileen Ryan of Celtic Freight. South African customs is also not helping the situation. “In our business we are finding that customs is hampering trade, with punitive penalties being levied even for the export of local goods. There seems to be a very real attempt to increase revenue at exit ports. “Education of the actual clerks doing the tariff checking would help significantly,” she said, “while revenue collection must not be the driving force, but rather the facilitation of trade.” The Celtic team remains upbeat about future growth. “Celtic will always be bullish when it comes to business into Zambia,” said Ryan. “Nothing has changed in our 20 years of servicing Zambia in that the forwarding businesses prefer to use a specialist in a region or on a route. Information is key – and with our continued development of technology we are putting full disclosure and detailed tracking into our agents’ hands.”
