Industry news

Company Profile: CDC

Innovative thinking and adding value to service gave Greg Kruger the break he needed to start his own courier company five years ago. And since then, this mindset ensured that CDC Services grew from strength to strength.

Mild-mannered and modest, Greg is fast to point out that this success is not due to his efforts, but to the fact that every CDC employee believes in the importance of customer care. And to prove his point, he refers to their zero pilferage and over 98% on-time delivery rates. Achievements that are only possible when the whole team is committed to delivering service. “All of us are involved with our clients and are dedicated to looking after their needs,” says Greg. “That is why we have been able to consistently deliver on time.”

Greg started CDC with one client in 1997 after the courier company of which he was a director merged with another company. The one client, however, required the regular movement of 140 tons of stock and he won this huge tender by suggesting a clever way of packaging that reduced costs considerably. Since then, CDC has grown to 50 trucks of varying sizes that deliver a wide spectrum of services countrywide.

Road Freight — a cost effective way of linking all South African cities and towns — is the most popular service offered.

Express Road Freight — only available between major centres, delivers freight the following working day. This service is often faster and more cost effective than Normal Airfreight — offered between centres with international airports. Freight is delivered during the course of the following working day.

Overnight Express — freight delivered the following working day before 10 am between major centres with international airports — can be combined with a Saturday service.

Sameday Service gets freight delivered on the same day between major South African centres.

They also provide services for international documentation, international shipping, cross border road transport and containerised transport.

Most of their clients are manufacturers or importers who need to distribute stock to retailers.

Some of the items they transport are popular branded sports footwear and apparel, high value camping items and expensive clothing.

With the head office situated conveniently close to Cape Town International Airport, CDC now have branches in Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth — each with a sales team dedicated to looking after customer needs — and agents in George, East London, Bloemfontein, Polonkwani, Nelspruit and Kimberley.

This rapid growth was a result of team effort, Greg insists. “We have a fantastic team. They are all self-motivators and they take pride in the performance of their branches.”

This pride in a job well done is even evident in the spruce, clean appearance of the trucks and uniformed staff. “It is important that our customers should feel happy to have their freight loaded on to our trucks.”

Greg also stresses the importance of well-trained, professional staff to represent the client on the delivery side. And he realises the importance of holding on to good employees. “We make it impossible for other companies to headhunt the valuable members of our team,” he says cryptically.

Keeping employees happy and strict security measures, are some of the reasons why they hold a zero pilferage record in an industry plagued by “goods falling off trucks”. CDC staff members will also assist clients with the packaging of freight to minimise the possibility of losses.

All vehicles are fitted with tracking systems and in the two instanced that vehicles were hijacked, all freight was recovered.