Introduction
South Africa is the most developed country in Africa and reflected from it being selected to host the 2010soccerworld cup it has resulted in an economic boost for the country. The largest service providers in South Africa are listed:
- DHL
- Schenker
- K hne & Nagel
- Expeditor
- Hellmann Safcor Panalpina
- Micor
- Megafreight
- R? hlig Grindrod
Trade challenges South Africa exports their goods mostly to Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Japan and the Unites states of America, and the imports list of South Africa is largely Germany as the top importing nation of South Africa then following is China, United States of America, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Transport infrastructure in African countries including South Africa is in poor conditions which causes ships in the harbours – which have insufficient infrastructure – to have to wait for a number f days before they can unload their goods. International nations who manufacture pharmaceutical goods for South Africa endure difficulties as they reach their capacity limits wasting a lot of time and slowing the supply chain.
There are various challenges in South Africa and highlighted are challenges such as desert regions in the country, the high mountain ranges and rain forests in South Africa serve as challenges in the logistics supply and value chain of the country Pharmaceutical industries in perspective of complex networks in terms of manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, dispensers and distributors are rated as relatively well-developed and sufficient change has taken place from the challenges faced by the country. Challenges in the logistics perspective
Importing goods into South Africa is made challenging because of the poor conditions the roads are that travelling is done on and another challenge is the South African ports and suppliers in terms of the distances between the two in various destinations northerly making it difficult to both drivers and transport equipment to reach their destination timely and effectively. Low standard facilities is what many of the countries border posts have and services offered are not done efficiently by officials because they do not possess the necessary skills required.
With perspective of logistics fees the challenge of eliminating perversities in the calculation of logistics fees and according to PIASA the logistics fee issue remains unresolved as well as the dispensing fee on medicine. The low level/shortage of human resources is an additional concern within the pharmaceutical industry, Changes in the ordering patterns causes delivery windows to shorten. “ Express logistics has always been indispensible in eliminating waste of time, moneyand products in the chain. ” (M, Latif. Finished products and distribution manager – BE-Tabs) Therefore pharmaceutical companies need special handling and general cargo being segregated. Another challenge faced by the logistics perspective of the pharmaceutical industry is the uncertainty about the economy’s future pricing regulations which causes wholesalers to hold stock being increasingly reluctant, opting for less valued choices as well as for more frequent shipments, and in order to maintain efficiency and gather up resources to facilitate the peak of credit terms being extended means both manufacturer and service provider have to work closely together.
In most pharmaceutical companies such as BE-Tabs the supply chain is kept functional to cater and meet the availability of final goods and affordability of those goods to meet expectations of the government and end-users. According to the pharmaceutical industry’s logistics it is a challenge to be overcome at all times to keep the cold chain intact for the many sensitive products in the supply chain, and just as important to maintain a viable and accurate information chain within the supply chain.
