Visibility at survey boosted us: FIT

Freight In Time Country Manager for Tanzania, Mr Fredrick Mlay soeaks during an interview with The Citizen. PHOTO|GADIOSA LAMTEY

What you need to know:

A Dar es Salaam based company that deals with sea, road and air freight, Freight In Time Group (FIT), says its participation in the Tanzania Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies Survey has had a number of positive outcomes on its operations.

The visibility gained has helped the company to raise the number of parcels transported to 40,000 pieces in 2015/16 from around 24,000 pieces in previous years.

Also the company handled 7000 containers in 2015/16, a very significant number as compared to previous years. They transported 140,000 tonnes of cargo by road in that year.

Dar es Salaam. A city-based transportation company, Freight In Time Group (FIT), says increased visibility as a result of participation in the Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies Survey has contributed to 100 per cent growth in their revenue.

The company, which deals with sea, road and air freight participated in the survey for the first time in 2011 when it ended 40th in the list of top 100 winners. However, the company went on to become the first runners-up in 2016.

FIT, which has two companies, ADL logistics Ltd and Sunfresh Tanzania Ltd, is a leading homegrown regional freight logistics group, with offices throughout East Africa. The offices are in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania as well as a worldwide network of leading international freight logistics partners.

Freight In Time country manager for Tanzania Fredrick Mlay, says in all the years (2011, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017) that the company has participated in the Top 100 Survey, it kept the belief that it would one day rank among the top three, adding that the Top 100 certificate had a significant impact on their business.

“We could not participate in 2014 due to various reasons, including our financial books not having accurate data recordings ready. And one of the criteria to be among the Top 100 include your financial books being clean,” said the country manager.

The company has 20 years of experience in freight handling and operates in eight countries in Africa: Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti and Tanzania. “The Top 100 award has helped us in many ways, including getting contracts with leading freight shipping companies,” Mlay says.

Success/why participate

Top 100 Survey has given the company exposure to new markets. The revenue from transporting cargo has doubled to Sh8 billion (from Sh4 billion) in 2015/16. The ambition to be known all over the world and grow was the main reason for the company to take part in the competition.

He said transportation of parcels increased to 40,000 pieces in 2015/16 from around 24,000 pieces in previous years.

Also, the company handled 7,000 containers in 2015/16, a very significant number as compared to previous years. They transported 140,000 tonnes of cargo by road in that year.

“Previously, before we became part of the Top 100, we were handling fewer containers and a small er number of parcels,” he said.

Mr Mlay said business was not good last year after some of their customers from DRC and Zambia stopped using the Dar es Salaam port, citing various challenges. “But the government addressed the issues, and the customers from those countries resumed using the Dar port.

“We commend the Top 100 Survey organisers and we would like the Survey to continue as it helps raise awareness and promote businesses especially for mid-sized companies,” he said.

Mr Mlay is optimistic that the company will grow even further in future as he sees potential investment in the industrial sectors, an area that would heavily require freight transportation services. He says the country’s industrialisation drive will bring more business for the firm.

Next year the company will open offices in Mbeya, Kigoma and Mwanza to serve neighbouring countries. He said the plan was to spend over Sh183 million to set up the offices.

According to Mlay, the company had only 20 permanent staff before they participated in the Top 100 Survey in 2011 but the number has grown to 70 and they plan to employ more.

Delays in cargo delivery

Mlay says delays in delivering cargo to destinations is a big challenge in the country’s transport sector because of so many clearance requirements and checkpoints for freight transportation.

Citing Dubai, he says the company completes the process of clearing the cargo in one day which is not the case in Tanzania. He calls for a one-stop centre where all clearance processes are completed.

Why Top 100?

Initiators of the Top100 Mid-Sized Companies Survey believe that the brand is valuable to businesses in the sense that it attracts greater interest in the company by customers, suppliers, investors and financiers.

That also comes with a lot of pressure on companies to uphold the integrity associated with the Top100 brand.

They believe that Mid-Sized Companies are instrumental in realising Tanzania’s Vision 2025 and thus the task ahead for Mwananchi Communications Limited and KPMG is to encourage Mid-sized companies to redouble their efforts so that they can graduate into club 101 – meaning doing business worth over Sh20 billion per annum.