South African Freight Services
  • More info
  • info@safsdbn.co.za
  • +27 31 361 1229

Air Freight Cargo

Long Haul Truck

Heavy Cargo Rail

Our Services

Freight Services

Being a specialist in this field, we customize our services around specific transportation logistics to best suite your needs. Whatever you need to transport we got you covered.

Clearing and Forwarding

As South Africa's leading clearing and forwarding company we offer our clients a wide range of transportation modes as well as expert advice.

Import and Export Management Services

South African Freight Services offers expert advice on Import / Export services and will advise on which of these modes is best suited to their products and delivery methods. Our services include everything from Reefer Services and Transportation Logistics to Container and Cargo Management.

Supply Chain Management

Having the capacity to manage the entire supply chain from source to destination through a partnership with global forwarders has ensured the popularity of South African Freight Services. Our Hallmarks include a complete supply chain management solution along with flexibility, reliability, continual innovation and the provision of timeous information to customers.

This is why top brands choose us; we are the best in the industry yet!

South African Freight Services offers a complete solution to any transportation need, from on site packing to legal documentation, however its strategically located bases is what really sets the company apart. With offices located in strategic cities, we are perfectly situated as the only freight company in South Africa to truly offer the most comprehensive service possible.


We provide the best of the best services !!!

SAFS Strategic Infrastructure

The Durban facility

The Durban facility is strategically located approximately 1KM from customs & excise and approximately 10 km from Sea Container Terminal, which is the busiest container terminal in Africa, a prime position for a freight company in South Africa.

Johannesburg facility

Johannesburg is South Africa's business and financial capital, with a constant flow of goods and products entering and leaving the city. Our facility is strategically located approximately 5km from the OR Thambo International Airport, approximately 10kms from the container terminal.

Port Elizabeth facility

Our facility in Port Elizabeth is situated in the heart of Eastern Cape's transport and economic centre, just 7km from the SAPO Sea Terminal, customs & excise office and airport, a vital location for any freight company in South Africa.

Transport News

High Cube Containers

From January 2019, the movement of containers exceeding a height of 4.3 metres will become illegal. High cube containers measure 2.9m, and when transported on the back of a normal transport vehicle, exceed the height of 4.3m.

The moratorium implemented in 2011 will end in 8 months’ time.

The facts are simple.

Double-decker buses have a travel height of 4.6 metres – and cargo is people so if they hit a bridge a lot of people would be decapitated. Yet a high cube hitting the same bridge is somehow worse than that?

If even one person was put into real and present danger – why the moratorium on high cubes   (official and unofficial) for over 20 years? The cost of transportation is kept down because transporters use super-links and decked tri- axles ie, breakbulk one way/container the other or vice versa.

Because of the above vehicles being used – even skeletal trailers (container only – no deck) because of the higher payloads have increased the height to 1.5-1.6 height from floor to deck/container locks over many decades.

Warehouse ramps have standardised on higher ramp heights (approximately 500 000 plus). They can use dock levels to adjust for slight height differences - but if the trailer is lower than the ramp they will have a major problem because dock levellers cannot go negative to ramp height.

We already have extremely high logistics costs when compared to other international trading nations (mainly because our production heart lies 600 kilometres away from our harbours).

The present travel height of high cubes exceeds the safe rail height when moved by rail – as a speeding train going through a tunnel may, due to centrifugal forces, snag the container corner on the tunnel wall and derail the train. Yet we do not hear the NDoT telling them to upgrade and correct – only road.

No nation can afford to upgrade all their container-carrying trailers – ANYWHERE in the world – for no valid reason.

The myth that this will increase employment somehow – and not lead to increased cost in the logistics chain – and somehow is a desirable thing to happen is a reflection of their poor grasp of reality.

The transporter cannot afford it, the clients cannot afford it, the people cannot afford it and South Africa cannot afford it.

It is a non-starter – as we have answered every one of their concerns. It’s time to take the egos out of it and end this nonsense – our country deserves better.

Tags: cargo, freight, distribution

About Us

South African Freight Services specializes in international forwarding, customs clearing, import and export freighting, services by sea, air, rail and road. Allowing us to offer our clients a door to door service from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world.

Legal Info

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Disclaimer Info
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contract Statement

Newsletter Subscribe

To receive the latest news from South African Freight Services kindly signup for our News letter. Many Thanks