UPS manager predicts sustained growth in courier market

KEVIN MAYHEW
THE STRENGTH of South Africa economically will drive expansion of courier services in southern Africa and other regions of the continent, according to Mark Martyn-Fisher, division manager (packages) – sub-Saharan Africa of UPS. Martyn-Fisher heads up UPS in Nigeria and is also responsible for general development of the international freight giant’s package services in the sub-continent. “With the strength of our operations in both Nigeria and South Africa we now have a perfect alliance in the region to sustain good growth throughout the sub-continent and beyond. Generally the past three years have seen significant growth in our sector and we have every reason to believe that it will continue,” he told FTW on a recent visit to South Africa. He added that Africa had recorded economic growth of 4% in the past three years and this was reflected in the rapid expansion of the major players into the continent. “Africa’s share of world trade is still low at about 2% despite this growth. If you think about what the courier sector does, which is to enable trade, then a hypothetical growth of that 2% to just 3% represents something like a $70bn per annum increase – with most of it coming in from outside the continent. “In the real world that is far more than you can ever expect in development aid or any other way of financing African growth as it is normal market forces at work to provide good growth on a sustainable basis,” he said. Despite Nigeria having close British ties, he said that the entire West African region had strong cross border ties – as trade drivers generally find a way round linguistic and cultural differences. “Part of our business is to establish networks between all the countries of West Africa and there is no real divide between the Anglophone countries and the Francophone grouping which has its own currency,” he added. On the less stable areas of the continent such as Ivory Coast – formerly prosperous and now crippled by bitter internal feuds - and similar situations that exist in sub-Saharan Africa, he said that the continent required resilience to operate effectively. “From a UPS perspective we are still providing a very good service to the Ivory Coast. Despite all that is said about its internal turmoil, the levels of business are still exceptional and the need for our services and the level of service demanded reflects that,” he explained. “Africa never presents homogenous challenges as Western countries do, but requires an intense level of knowledge of local conditions, laws and even customs to function effectively. This also translates into fluctuations in economic performance with some previously slow economies or geographical areas becoming stellar performers in a short space of time,” he said. One such example is Angola which is presently Africa’s fastest growing economy in percentage terms, he concluded.