LOGISTICS. Time to oil the wheels.(Conference notes)

Byline: Razina Munshi

LOGISTICS Time to oil the wheels The high cost of logistics in SA is hampering the country's global competitiveness. Southern Africa's ability to connect manufacturers and consumers with international markets is still too inefficient to boost the region's trade. Improving trade logistics will have spin-off effects on economic growth, Abrie de Swardt, marketing director of Imperial Logistics, told a recent infrastructure project finance conference in Johannesburg.

Logistics cost SA industry R339bn in 2008, up from R213bn in 2004, says the annual state of logistics survey. But expressed as a percentage of GDP (14,7% in 2008), logistics costs are …