EL – PE airfreight demand takes off

GROWING DEMAND for airfreight out of East
London is reflected in the expansion of Transit in
the Eastern Cape city.
Transit specialises in domestic airline
consolidation. “There has been such strong
growth over the past year that we have moved
into new premises, says Transit East London
branch supervisor Mike Boyce.
Currently the company handles around 10
tons of airfreight a month. All freight travels
by air rather than road as is the case with the
majority of airfreight from Port Elizabeth.
A freighter leaves East London at 19:30 in the
evening, returning at 05:30 the next morning.
“This allows us to have goods with our
clients when business opens,” he says.
There is also capacity on the daily Airlink
flights between Port Elizabeth and East London.
Transit is responsible for handling all the freight
for the service, which offers three flights a day.
Freight between the two cities is mainly small
parcels and documents.
The company opened its East London offices
nearly four years ago, and has been growing.
“We were the first on-line with the e-waybill
system in South Africa,” says Boyce.
The company also has strict security systems
in place. “Everything is put in sealed bags before
it is despatched. We also have CCTV cameras
inside and outside the building to monitor the
handling of the freight.
“If there are any problems, we can go back
and track every place the parcel was handled by
us,” he says.