Players in the Southern African logistics supply chain should investigate the viability of pooling resources, market intelligence and other services to provide clients with a complete end-to-end logistics offering through a so-called “single window”, Imperial Logistics African business executive Gerry de Jonge argues.

Speaking during a freight and logistics session at the Southern African Transport Conference, on Tuesday, he outlined that the various challenges experienced in the sub-equatorial African supply-chain market could be tackled better if logistics service providers that specialised in a particular aspect of the network partnered permanently with other specialist companies within the supply chain, thus presenting the client with a complete, end-to-end packaged service.

“Local logistics players often view one another as competitors, but the reality is that synergies do exist that enable them to work together in an integrated way that benefits both parties.

“If companies come together as service providers and offer a total service, it’s a case of ‘one voice, one invoice’,” he maintained.

De Jonge’s envisaged integrated logistics system would see the full outsourcing of diverse supply chain services to various companies, all of which would be managed and monitored by a central planning and operations centre – reducing supply chain costs and enhancing overall efficiency.

“Thus, companies would move from being a transactional service provider to an integrated partner,” he commented, adding that one partner could adopt the responsibility of managing the system, possibly being reimbursed with a management fee.

He said this concept could also see South African logistics firms increasingly moving into Southern and Central Africa and partnering with established local logistics service providers, thus benefitting from their established on-the-ground knowledge of the local market.

“South African logistics companies often enter markets thinking that players in these markets still have a lot to learn, which is untrue. They’re actually doing it very well already and are valuable potential partners,” he noted.

Session chairperson and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Built Environment researcher Dr Paul Nordengen added that the “combined weight” of several logistics service providers could place additional pressure on governments to abolish superfluous legislative barriers to the cross-border movement of goods and remove unnecessary red tape.

“Moreover, logistics companies are constantly fighting over a small piece of the Southern African logistics pie. Instead of doing this, they should look at combining their strengths and increasing the international competitiveness of the region’s supply chain,” he said.

Meanwhile, De Jonge asserted that data integration between the various partners was crucial, as this information could identify synergies, enhance efficient bidirectional freight traffic, decrease border standing times and “link” the companies together.

“If there is data visibility, then the business intelligence [in the partnership] can go to the next level.”

However, this needed to be balanced with the individual competitive interests of each business and must be done within the ambits of the relevant competition legislation.

“Obviously, you need to be sensitive to what information you can share in terms of competition disclosure. One of the most difficult aspects of this is balancing company secrets while integrating,” he cautioned, advising that companies sign confidentiality agreements at the onset.

De Jonge noted that the most difficult aspect of the proposed “single window” concept lay in identifying suitable companies with which to partner, adding that Imperial Logistics has been looking for a partner in Africa “for years”.

“Finding the right partners takes a long time, but you need to keep engaging,” he said.