By Sahil Affriya, Founder & CEO, Shiprazor

I find myself having the same conversations with business owners in late November – always too late to make a difference. They typically have three strong trading days as customers work through their wish lists. Then a public holiday comes and nothing moves, followed by a new week that opens with forty parcels sitting on a late collection and customers on WhatsApp politely asking where their orders are. You know that courtesy has a shelf life.

Most merchants treat that new week as something to survive, but working with them day-to-day has shown us that it is far more useful to use these long weekends as a dry run for the biggest shopping weekend of the year – Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

The upcoming Women’s Day long weekend provides an excellent opportunity to dry run the three pressures that define Black Friday: an order spike, a pause in collections, and a backlog clearing while new orders land. Get it wrong in August and you could lose a few customers; in November, you stand to lose the season.

This matters more each year as larger retailers keep shrinking the gap between order and doorstep, and shoppers expect everyone to match it. Services like Checkers Sixty60 have passed 100 million orders across close to 700 stores. The delivery speed shoppers expect from their grocery run has become the benchmark every other vendor is measured against. More people are placing more orders, and growing less patient with a poor delivery service.

Business owners have roughly ten weeks before an October system freeze locks things down. Here are four things you can do to stress test for Black Friday before it’s too late to make code changes.

1. The gap between purchase and waybill

Your first possible bottleneck sits just past checkout in the time between an order landing and you being able to create a waybill. Ideally, that gap is seconds. If it takes hours, or you are typing an address into a courier portal, you have found your first problem and higher order volumes will only worsen it.

Get ahead of this by tracking what stalls: failed connections, duplicate shipments, orders stuck on pending, anything needing a manual fix. On a well-integrated platform, that count sits near zero and the waybill follows the sale automatically, freeing your team to focus on the customer, not the admin.

2. What the customer sees after dispatch

Late parcels don’t automatically lose customers but silence can. A shopper who cannot see their order assumes the worst and messages you. Each assumption puts the success of your weekend and reputation at risk. Your focus should be on tracking exceptions, non-delivery reports (an NDR is logged when a courier cannot complete a delivery), return-to-origin rates, repeat attempts, and “where is my order” messages piling up.

Many failed deliveries are caused by a wrong or incomplete address, and each one comes with costs: a redelivery, the time cost of a support call, and sometimes the sale itself. Proactive tracking systems that keep customers up to date answer most of those questions before they are asked.

3. Courier performance on your own routes

Most merchants set their courier rules once and never look at them again, and many take advertised transit times at face value rather than as a claim to test. Testing these systems and asking critical questions of your courier partner is the key to getting ahead of any problems.

Testing lets you quantify the value you are getting from each courier and plan for contingencies. Relying on a single courier means your only backup plan is hope. The stress of managing multiple delivery providers, however, pulls your attention away from your customer. Platforms that give you the option to choose from multiple couriers enable stability even when systems are under pressure.

4. Every step that still needs a person

Question every manual process: courier allocation, waybill generation, address correction, customer notifications, status updates. When you are small, doing some of these by hand is manageable; for a business that is scaling, this quickly becomes unsustainable.

Note every point where someone had to step in to complete a routine task and treat each one as something to automate or rewrite. The right setup takes that work off your team entirely: a single integrated platform that turns a sale into a waybill, multi-courier routing that reroutes in seconds, and tracking that keeps customers informed before they need to ask.

Read the data the week after the holiday, fix your three biggest weaknesses by the end of September, and confirm the fixes hold before the freeze. Do that and the calm forty-order weekend and the frantic four-hundred-order one should feel the same to your team. Leave the diagnosis until Black Friday and you will learn the same lessons at a far higher price.

Sahil Affriya, Founder & CEO, Shiprazor

The South African Freight and Logistics Association (SAFLA) and the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of South Africa (AMIE SA) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to deepen collaboration on the logistics, port-operational and regulatory issues affecting South Africa’s meat trade.

SAFLA and AMIE SA will use the MoC to identify recurring constraints, exchange evidence and develop practical, solutions-focused proposals for engagement with government agencies and stakeholders. The partnership will support constructive dialogue on port operations, border processes, veterinary and sanitary requirements, market access, rail and road connectivity, and supply-chain resilience.

A United Voice to Find Practical Solutions

“Logistics is fundamental to food security, trade competitiveness and economic growth,” says Jonathan McDonald, Vice Chairman of SAFLA. “This MoC gives SAFLA and AMIE SA a stronger platform to speak with one informed voice, engage constructively with government agencies and work with them to resolve issues that affect cargo flow, costs and reliability. We are most effective when industry brings evidence, expertise and practical solutions to the table.”

Paul Matthew, CEO of AMIE SA, adds that improved collaboration between industry and government is essential if South Africa is to turn trade opportunities into measurable growth. “We have the product, the capability and markets that are ready to buy South African meat,” Matthew notes. “What is required is effective coordination: clear communication between national and provincial authorities, efficient certification and inspection processes, and a willingness to bring the private sector into the solution.”

For meat exporters, the ability to supply international customers consistently is crucial. Delays in market-access processes and veterinary approvals can cause buyers to source from alternative suppliers. Animal-health events remain a trade risk, underlining the importance of robust traceability, credible controls and internationally accepted approaches to regionalisation.

Matthew highlights that trade is not a zero-sum choice between exports and domestic affordability. “Export markets enable producers to obtain value for different cuts across the carcass. That improves overall carcass balance and can support a more sustainable, affordable domestic supply,” he says.

The MoC recognises that food safety and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable. Its purpose is to support processes that are rigorous, proportionate and consistently applied, while ensuring that avoidable administrative bottlenecks do not undermine trade, jobs or consumer access to protein.

AMIE SA estimates that South Africa exported approximately 81,000 tonnes of red meat, including beef, sheep and goat meat, worth around R63 billion between 2025 and May 2026, demonstrating the significant economic potential of the sector even amid disease-related and administrative constraints.

The freight-forwarding sector that enables this trade is itself substantial, with South Africa’s freight-forwarding market estimated to have generated approximately R81 billion in revenue in 2025. Freight forwarders also coordinate more than 80% of the country’s international trade, reinforcing the strategic importance of efficient, reliable logistics systems.

Room for Further Improvement

“Meat trade depends on logistics, predictable inspection and cargo-release processes, veterinary controls, and reliable access to international markets,” continues McDonald. “When these systems do not operate in concert, the consequences are felt by producers, importers, exporters, cold stores, transporters, processors, retailers and consumers.”

While there have been encouraging improvements in infrastructure and equipment in the Durban port, industry continues to confront operational pressure points, including cold-chain capacity, container handling, inspection coordination and release of consignments.

“Through industry engagement, communication and joint advocacy, SAFLA and AMIE SA intend to help convert recurring challenges into coordinated action,” concludes McDonald. “The associations believe that a unified industry voice, combined with respectful partnership with government, can improve the country’s logistics ecosystem, strengthen national supply-chain performance and support a competitive, resilient South African meat sector.”

Jonathan McDonald – Vice Chair of SAFLA, with Paul Matthew, CEO of AMIE SA

Jonathan McDonald – Vice Chair of SAFLA, with Paul Matthew, CEO of AMIE SA

On 14 July 2026, representatives of the South African Freight and Logistics Association (SAFLA) met in person with SARS Customs management teams in the Western Cape and Johannesburg to advance practical solutions for the freight forwarding and logistics sector.

The engagements build on SAFLA’s formal representation in SARS Customs stakeholder structures and are intended to create direct, practical channels between Customs and industry at regional level. The focus is on efficient trade processes, timely and transparent communication, responsible representation and consistent compliance.

“This is what practical partnership looks like,” says SAFLA Executive Officer Dave Logan. “We are not waiting for problems to accumulate. We are engaging SARS regionally, with clear agendas and evidence from members, so that issues can be addressed before they add avoidable time and cost to legitimate trade.”

Dave Logan, SAFLA Executive Officer

Western Cape Establishes a Structured Working Relationship

SAFLA’s Western Cape Working Group met the SARS Customs regional management team to present the Association’s national and regional model and agree on a structured engagement process.

SARS welcomed the platform and committed to monthly management meetings with the Working Group. It also indicated that broader stakeholder meetings involving customs brokers, shipping lines, depots and freight forwarders would be reinstated.

“SAFLA will continue to participate in quarterly Sea Modality structures and circulate meeting agendas in advance so that both sides arrive prepared to resolve clearly defined issues,” says SAFLA Vice President Jonathan McDonald. “The first formal management meeting is scheduled for 4 August 2026, with a broader stakeholder meeting expected later that month.”

Jonathan McDonald, SAFLA Vice President

“SARS is reviewing Western Cape Customs processes, operating practices and potential technology improvements. SAFLA members will be able to contribute evidence-based input on bottlenecks, inspection delays, communication gaps and the commercial cost of avoidable hold-ups,” McDonald adds.

This channel is particularly important for smaller operators, which have less capacity to absorb the cost of delays and repeated administrative escalation.

Regional Engagement Progresses in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal

In Johannesburg, SAFLA representatives outlined the Association’s purpose and regional engagement model to SARS Customs. SARS indicated a willingness to meet monthly on Customs matters affecting Johannesburg, including Sea Modality issues.

As the relationship moves towards formalisation, SARS requested SAFLA’s stakeholder engagement documentation, confirmation of the Association’s recognition, an organisational chart and current membership numbers. These governance steps will support a durable, properly constituted relationship and inform engagement in other SARS regions.

SAFLA’s KwaZulu-Natal Working Group has meanwhile focused on engagement with Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) at the Port of Durban, as road congestion continues to affect access to terminals and depots.

“At a meeting on 24 July, the port manager outlined short- and long-term interventions being implemented. Road access remains a particular concern, including access to the port’s container terminals, the Island View (Cutler) Complex and Bulk Connections,” explains Dave Watts, a member of SAFLA’s KwaZulu-Natal Working Group.

SAFLA KZN Working Group Member Dave Watts

International Container Terminal Services  (ICTSI) assumed day-to-day operational responsibility for Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 in January 2026 under its partnership with Transnet.

“Regular engagement with management across Durban’s container terminals is continuing. At Durban Gateway Terminal, members are reporting limited truck-booking slots and considerable staging-area delays. High volumes, vessel bunching and equipment breakdowns are among the issues understood to be affecting performance,” Watts adds.

The KwaZulu-Natal Working Group also attended a regional SARS Customs meeting as an observer and is working to establish an ongoing relationship with regional Customs officials.

A Practical, Outcomes-Based Relationship

“These engagements show that both parties are willing to build practical, accountable working relationships focused on measurable outcomes. SAFLA’s role is to bring evidence, represent members with integrity and work alongside SARS on solutions that improve both trade facilitation and compliance,” McDonald says.

“SAFLA exists to give freight forwarders a credible voice, nationally and in every region where trade happens. We will keep engaging constructively and measure success by whether the issues raised translate into clearer processes and operational improvements,” he concludes.