Our Global NetworkSouth Africa

An apparel manufacturer importing weekly air freight shipments from Hong Kong and Vietnam was facing the challenge of serious pilferage in South Africa. The client’s cargo arrived in shipments of 40 to 600 boxes that couldn’t be palletized by the origin office due to the fact that documentation received by vendors listed the number of pieces for customs purposes. Agility stepped in to help the client prevent pilferage. We gave instructions to the origin offices to black-shrink wrap each box. Then, we increased security even more by collecting all freight four hours after its arrival and placing it under camera surveillance in case of late afternoon or weekend arrival. Additionally, we engaged the services of a company to conduct surveillance on our vehicles when collecting the cargo from the airline and transporting it to our degroup facility, then when it was collected by the local transporter and taken to the warehouse. By investigating every stage, we have been able to reduce pilferage and are working with the client to investigate the clearing agent, local transporter and warehouse agent to ensure the pilferage isn’t taking place at these touchpoints.

A high-end furniture importer was having trouble balancing costs and delivery guarantees. Freight rate levels had more than doubled from the previous year. The client had been working on an FOB basis, meaning that costs for transporting goods to the port and loading freight into ships fell to the goods’ seller, and the goods’ buyer picked up costs for ocean freight, insurance, discharge and transport from port to destination. Agility worked with shipping lines who were focusing on reefer exports in South Africa and determined which carrier would benefit most from our using their reefers on a NOR (notice of readiness) basis from China to South Africa. This type of arrangement is beneficial to shipping lines because it requires us to assist in repositioning their containers. As a result, we were able to secure preferred rates for 40-foot NOR containers for the client and negotiated with a private rail provider to get the goods to port less expensively. The outcome was a massive cost savings on freight, a reduction in border police stops en route to port, reduced carbon emissions and a transit time in line with customer expectations.

A company shipping containers of soluble coffee was looking for a service provider to drive productivity and efficiency on the logistical side of its business. Its first priority was minimizing stock on-hand at various warehouses by moving weekly shipments of containers out of these plants. Agility was awarded business on a tender contract for 12 months. We helped the customer find alternative carriers to alleviate recurrent issues related to storage and other factors causing delays. Then, we launched a pilot co-packing project to transform unpackaged goods into products ready to be stocked and sold on store shelves. We began building case boxes, labeling, barcoding, packaging, palletizing and shrink-wrapping. We distributed the pallets of finished product to a distribution center. Our efforts with the customer have led to improved stock and transit times.