‘Biggest problem is finding the space’ – Leo

Warehouses in Johannesburg and Durban have been inundated with cargo in the past year with very little under-utilised space, according to South Africa’s freight forwarders. Warren Jayes of Leo Shipping Services told FTW: “The main problem the company encountered last year with space was the large increase in cotton tonnages from up north which all moved into South Africa during the same period, not only for Leo Shipping, but for many others as well. “This, coupled with a drop in cotton prices in this period, slowed down exports of the product with the result that space in the warehouses did not turn over as fast as would be desired.” He said there were many other warehouses in Johannesburg that handled minerals which were not suitable for storing next to cotton for reasons of cleanliness. This reduced the number of suitable warehouses for handling this product. “Unfortunately this is a warehousing risk,” he said. Jayes is hoping to see a repeat of similar volumes for 2012, but the biggest challenge Leo Shipping faced last year was keeping up with demand for available warehouse space. The company doesn’t own its own warehouses, but rents space and offers clients warehousing facilities in Johannesburg and Durban at Grindrod Warehouse, where its offices are based. Together with Grindrod, which controls all of the warehouse operations, Leo Shipping moves large tonnages of breakbulk cargo into warehouses for storage and container stuffing and for movement to Durban port by road or rail for vessel stacks. The company also unpacks imported cargo for movement in bond to African landlocked countries.