Freight Plus
joins forces with
Emtateni
A BULK handling chain, involving containers and liquids, as well as a cold storage chain including all harbours around the southern African coast is the target of Emtateni Freight Plus, the black empowerment freight forwarding company.
Launched two years ago in Durban as Freight Plus, with common shareholding with textile company Coastal Group, it has now joined forces with Emtateni, a KwazuluNatal investment holdings company.
In two years it has garnered one percent of the freight forwarding market, but that is about to change says chairman Prince Sifiso Zulu. Before the tie with Freight Plus, Emtateni had a market capitalisation of R10million, he says, with its main shareholders World Wide Investment Holdings, the Zulu royal house and the Inyanda Chamber of Business investment company.
Following the tie-up, annual turnover immediately went up to R100million, and in the next two to three years the company is aiming at a turnover of R500million, as well as a JSE listing.
That figure, says deputy chairman Rajen Pillay, is well within its compass. Unlike other companies, its strategy for growth is organic rather than through acquisitions, he says.
Black empowerment companies are often faced with the question: do you have the capacity to handle it? Our answer is simply, yes we do. We have the track record, proven capacity skills, the resources and the technology to compete on service, cost effectiveness and reliability.
Referring to the supply chain plans, Zulu says these total supply chain opportunities are in the offing, with the company holding talks with major organisations on the issue. This would involve every port from Walvis Bay in Namibia right around the South African coast and on to all Mozambique harbours.
Considered a medium-sized company at present, Emtateni Freight Plus has a number of major clients and aims to capitalise on its claim to be the first black-owned and controlled company in this sector. It has in place contractual agreements with foreign partners which provides it with an essential global network, says Pillay.
According to Zulu, the company is positioning itself to take advantage of the opportunities being provided by privatisation and restructuring taking place in sectors which were once dominated by conglomerates.
We are positioniung ourselves to take market share in this multibillion rand a year sector which has been dominated in the past by three or four major companies, he says.
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