Transport companies are reporting a significant increase in project cargo volumes as infrastructure spending continues to grow. According to Aven Naidu, CEO of Avemel Logistics, this is particularly true in South Africa’s ever-changing environment, where increased spending on infrastructure has led to greater demand for project cargo solutions. “There has definitely been a rapid increase in volumes, with higher demand for teams with material handling abilities,” he told Freight News.Increased investment in the mining and mineral sectors is good news for project cargo. “Volumes are certainly increasing as the mineral market recovers from the recent slump. We hope to see much more investment from foreign investors leading to new projects, but for this to happen, we desperately need government intervention,” Naidu added.Amidst uncertain regulation, South Africa’s mining sector has been under pressure for several years. The drop in commodity prices, crippling power cuts across the country, rail network constraints and rising costs for miners and their service providers have also kept the sector in the doldrums.According to Naidu, there is a good deal of opportunity, but it will require the government to take a more progressive approach. He noted that some challenges were proving to be a boon, such as the country’s inability to provide elec tr icit y.“The ongoing issue with power constraints, for example, has opened the avenue to multiple ongoing projects in the renewable energy sector,” said Naidu. “With the elections behind us, we will now see massive input from foreign investors into our growth areas.”However, Naidu highlighted the country's ports as an area of concern. “It is seriously hampering our ability and has resulted in the loss of volumes to neighbouring countries. Our inability to provide a stable service has also cost us many export tenders and millions of rands in much-needed support for South African-based businesses.”Remaining hopeful that the project cargo sector will continue to grow at an exponential rate, Avemel Logistics has continued to invest in its f leet and operations. “Not only do we provide a full tally service, but we have recently secured a new offering in the form of a crating service for all cargo. We own and operate a wide variety of specialised equipment for project cargo and steel,” Naidu said.
