Lesotho’s growing economy
has seen infrastructure
developing and projects such
as the Lesotho Highlands
Water Project (LHWP) providing
good opportunities for the freight
industry.
According to Hilary Woelk,
managing director of Kayhil Freight
Lesotho, the country saw a 4.0%
gross domestic product growth in
2012, according to World Bank data,
and more South African businesses
have invested in the country.
“Our outlook for business growth
in Lesotho for 2014 is therefore
cautiously optimistic,” he told FTW.
Two of the greatest challenges to
freight transport in Lesotho is that
there are no off-loading zones and
the infrastructure on entering the
country still operates on a manual
system, says Woelk. “The government
is however very committed to
growing trade and is working on
creating computerised systems to
fast-track border crossings,” he says.
Kayhil Freight, which has always
been highly computerised according
to Woelk, has linked its customers
to the company’s system, allowing it
to notify clients of every step of the
supply chain. “This makes our service
highly measurable and allows
our clients to keep track of
the progress of their goods,”
he told FTW.
Woelk says that a “major bugbear”
is the new South African Revenue
Service (Sars) modernisation
programme. “It is great when the
system is up and running but it’s
down often and it can take up to
three days to get the system up again
which creates frustrating delays,” he
said. It is his opinion that the staff on
the ground simply do not know what
to do when the system goes down.
“And this happens every week.”
CAPTION
The Katse Dam is one of the Lesotho Highlands Water Projects that will open up growth opportunities
for the freight sector in Lesotho.
