Transitex develops its international standing

Transitex is a global logistics company which specialises in the movement of goods, including an array of fresh produce, door to door. Amongst the items the company deals with are citrus, stone fruit, top fruit, grapes, avocados, mango and pineapple. Being globally positioned, Transitex is able to offer year round coverage of both Northern and Southern Hemisphere seasons.

The speciality of the company is its close connection with the Latin world. Having a well established reputation in the Iberian Peninsula, Transitex has long served Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries.

In recent years the company has expanded its operations well beyond its traditional areas and now has offices in Europe, Asia, North and South America and Southern Africa. The driving force behind this growth, explains Keith Steeman, of Transitex's Johannesburg office, was the purchase of Transitex by Grupo Monta-Engil.

"That happened in 2002 and it brought a whole lot of energy into the company."

Keith says that, since 2002, the company has successfully developed a global brand in addition to the one it already enjoyed in the Iberian peninsula. At the same time as this international push the company has, however, remained true to its origins and maintains a strong focus on Latin language destinations. For example, as well as operating widely in Southern Africa now, Transitex is still responsible for around 60-80% of Spanish citrus exports.

Of course the growth of the company has come at a challenging time for logistics companies generally, as the rising cost of fuel necessitates price rises passed onto the customer.

"One has to monitor costs extremely closely," Keith says, "while providing clients with excellent competitive pricing."

The extended coverage the company now operates can also throw up challenges of its own, as Keith says of some of the Southern African regions. "Some areas, as close (to South Africa) as Mozambique have roads where vehicles are forced to travel at 30 km per hour. Failure to do so results in damage to vehicles and cargo."

On the future of the logistics industry Keith offers some predictions that may seem a little surprising. For a start, whilst allowing that the bulk of perishables are still moved in containers, he states that more and more clients are requesting specialised reefer services in a reversal of current trends. He also suggests that in the not too distant future port preferences in the Southern African region may shift away from the larger ports of South Africa.

"In Southern Africa we predict the smaller ports such as Maputo and Ngura will be used more and more."