SA's road freight sector gears up for SME Road Freight Summit and Awards 2023

Source: Unsplash

“The South African road freight industry contributes immensely to the economy of South Africa,” says Florence Musundwa, convenor of the SME Road Freight Summit.

“Despite this, access to information, resources and support to gain competitive advantage in the road freight industry, however, is still a persisting challenge for SMEs.”

The industry continues to be affected by numerous cost increases including fuel prices, the Road Accident Fund levy and Carbon Tax. Delays at ports and border posts also have a significant impact on logistics costs.

Additional costs include vehicle tracking and tracing systems, warehousing and distribution operating costs, municipal charges, escalating electricity costs, costs of compliance with legislation and standards and a proposed waste tyre recycling levy.

“The Road Freight SME Summit 2023 is a platform designed to unpack the various challenges and possible solutions to improve the success rate of SMEs in the road freight sector,” continues Musundwa.

The summit endeavours to improve the support given to SMEs in the road freight space, so as to ensure the design of effective intervention and support programmes which will enable SME growth.”

The event is aimed at trucking operators who operate more than five trucks ie. businesses that are already a going concern, but who need to scale to enjoy sustainability and profitability.

The launch agenda includes:

The online launch takes please from 10am to 11am on Friday, 30 June.