KENYA – Bollore Transport & Logistics, a major international transport and logistics operator, has successfully handled the first direct shipment of Kenyan farmers’ coffee to South Korea without the use of a coffee brokerage.
This was made possible thanks to sector reforms by the government of Kenya that now allow farmers to market their produce directly with a view to fetch a better price for their produce.
The shipment that was flagged off in March and docked weeks after into the Asian country without hitches, as Bolloré Transport & Logistics oversaw the processing, bulking, stuffing and shipping of the containerized cargo.
Through this operation, Bolloré Transport & Logistics, was able to support 9,582 small-scale farmers from the South Rift Region of Kenya.
“One of the commitments at Bolloré Transport & Logistics is to foster local development through the services we offer,” said Auni Bhaiji, East Africa Regional Director for Operations, Corporate Development, and External Affairs at Bolloré Transport & Logistics.
“We appreciate the vision and efforts to improve the value of coffee to local farmers, and we intend to play our part as a logistics provider to support our clients and help them grow their business.”
Bolloré Transport & Logistics has a high level of expertise to handle sensitive commodities that represent a high value.
It has by far, the largest public warehouse licensed by the Coffee Board of Kenya with 15,000 SqM dedicated space in Nairobi and Mombasa and services centered on storage, in house processing, logistical planning, land and sea transport.
Coffee farming in Kenya is largely done by small scale farmers in different parts of the country. Bolloré Transport & Logistics, as a global logistics provider, is keen on leveraging on its network to ensure that the farmers can access the untapped markets and export their produce. It handles 60% of all coffee exports from Kenya
Established in Kenya since 1968, the company operates 161,000SqM of warehousing space at logistics centres in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu.
With a 360-degree scope of services in Supply Chain & Warehousing, Multimodal Transport Solutions, Local & Regional Distribution, and Industrial Project Logistics, Bolloré Transport & Logistics has developed specialized expertise and facilities for a wide range of industry including Manufacturing & Retail FMCG, Commodities, Aid & Relief, among others.
Bolloré opens automated cocoa loading station in Ivory Coast
It’s game changing contribution into the reformed coffee sector in Kenya comes weeks after the logistics expert inaugurated a new cocoa loading station in San Pedro, south-west of Ivory Coast following a one billion CFA francs (US$1.6m) investment.
The fully automated and robotised facility is aimed to speed up the loading operations and provide a smoother export process of bulk cocoa beans.
The station is the third of its kind built by the Bolloré group in the country as it continues to heighten competitiveness of the port of San Pedro, which remains the world’s leading cocoa export port.
With improvement in service delivery, the logistics expert is expected to increase boost its volume handling capacity of 30 to 50% of cocoa handled to date at the base.
By streamlining operations and fostering efficiency, it will also benefit the entire maritime transport chain (shipowners, stevedores, freight forwarding agents, carriers, etc.), in the port community of San Pedro.
For cocoa farmers, this new logistics platform will reduce the waiting time of bush trucks at the factories where the cocoa is prepared for export, improve rotation and increase productivity.
In particular, it will make Côte d’Ivoire even more attractive as the world’s largest cocoa producer with over 2 million tonnes.
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