Page 6 - Logistics News May 2018

Opinion

Dreaming of a

united Africa

By Juanita Maree

Three recent media reports
have literally set the world of
logistics on fi re.

THE FIRST was President Ramaphosa
announcing the establishing of the
African Continental Free Trade Area
(AfCFTA). Then the report ‘Future of
Fulfi lment Vision Study’, by US fi rm
Zebra Technologies, revealed that 78
percent of logistics companies expect
to provide same-day delivery by
2023 and that 40 percent of logistics
companies anticipate delivery within
a two-hour window by 2028. Then
the South African Revenue Service
(SARS) introduced a new electronic
cargo reporting system to track the
movement of cargo into and out of
the country, ending one of its last
remaining paper-based processes
and providing customs offi cials with
the capability to track goods from
beginning to end.
Taken in context with each other,
this highlights the critical need for the
modernisation of trade processes that
require governments and companies
to fi nd mechanisms to work together
to facilitate the fl ow of goods across
borders and, further down the
line, contribute to establishing an
integrated market in Africa that will
consist of over one billion people
with a gross domestic product of 2,6
trillion US dollars.
The vision of a borderless
continent with single currency may
be highly desirable from a trade point
of view, but the practicalities on the

14 May 2018 | Logistics News