Market Trends of South Africa Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the South Africa Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Market according to our research experts:
AfCFTA to Increase Intra Regional Trade
The intra-Africa trade currently is limited to 15% of Africa’s total trade, indicating a very weak intra-regional value chain as compared to Asia, where it is at 80%. With the introduction of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which is the world's largest free trade zone signed by 54 countries and is expected to revolutionise trade across the continent, the trade volume and hence the economy of the continent is expected to grow significantly. The act will focus on increasing the production capabilities in an exceedingly competitive global landscape.
The African government is under talks to develop the roads, railway and maritime connectivity of the countries. Nigeria and South Africa - the biggest economies on the continent of Africa are under talks of collaborative work to build road network on the continent.
The restoration and improvement of the Maputo corridor has successfully boosted bilateral trade flows between South Africa and Mozambique leading to more than USD 5 billion worth of investments and developments, construction and operation of transport, logistics, energy, and industrial ventures along the corridor.
France, one of South Africa's privileged partners, is investing in the country's railway industry in collaboration with local companies. The French-South African collaboration is proving particularly successful, with an ongoing partnership between Alstom, the French-based multinational transport company where in October 2019, Alstom inaugurated a modernised rail factory in Ekurhuleni in South Africa.
Developments in Cold Chain Market
In recent years, the consumption of meat, canned fruits and vegetables, packaged food has risen over the years with the growing middle class. The demand from the healthcare sector has also increased over the years for the storage of drugs, vaccines and medical equipment. In order to balance the increasing demand with the supply of the services, the companies are actively evolving not only to provide a faster service but also reduce the carbon emission to a minimum in the process.
Among recent developments, in November 2019, RCL Foods has announced a deal with Imperial Logistics expanding to provide efficient operations in cold chain service.
June 2019 evidenced the opening of the latest cold storage facility from SAFT (Southern African Fruit Terminals) having the 5,500 pallet capacity facility spread across 17,105 sq. meter of warehousing space. This location provides easy accessibility to farmers and cooperatives transporting fruit for export along with the Cape Town Harbour and facilities in Killarney Gardens and Paarl.
Thermo King - global leader in transport refrigeration and heating for trailers, trucks, buses, rail cars and shipboard containers, in March 2020, launched fully electric multi-temperature unit with hold-over capacity on Mercedes-Benz sprinter vans providing an all-in-one transport refrigeration solution that allows customers to maintain up to two cooling zones in the vehicle and keep the refrigeration unit running without any emissions while the driver stops for delivery, break or needs to turn off the vehicle for longer.
