South Africa’s roads are already chock-full of motorcycles delivering goods to their excited buyers, but this is only the start of what is projected to become a massive industry.
On-demand delivery services were already on the rise but experienced a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic when the nation’s citizens were locked in their homes and had few other means of getting necessities, a trend that has simply continued despite lockdown restrictions already being a distant memory for many consumers.
Today, it is estimated that as many as 50,000 delivery motorbikes roam the country’s streets on a daily basis, a figure that is expected to double over the next three years as more and more retailers expand their customer service offerings.
However, according to Craig Langton, Founder of the Fire it Up Group, the delivery motorbike industry not only holds potential for businesses who want to get their goods into the hands of paying customers, but also for the country as a whole.
Untapped potential
Langton believes that there is significant potential for South Africa to become a manufacturer of delivery bikes to great success, just as it has of cars, buses, and trucks.
At present, there are no production facilities in the country for commercial two-wheelers meaning all the examples we see on the road are sourced from overseas suppliers, generally at a more significant cost than what they are truly worth.
They are also built to the specifications of other countries and do not necessarily adhere to domestic regulations.
“The current situation is not sustainable,” said Langton in a 702 interview.
“We’ve made it sustainable and a big part of that is believing that the jobs and all the people involved in the industry can benefit from manufacturing and assembling motorcycles in South Africa.”
There are already laws in place that govern the minimum standards that motorbikes coming into the country must meet. However, there are no test facilities in the country where they can be assessed to determine whether they do, in fact, meet these standards.
As such, the authorities do not really know if imported motorbikes are up to code, said Langton.
“If there was a manufacturing facility where motorcycles were built to a South African standard and not necessarily to an African, Chinese, or European standard, we would be able to invest in ourselves and in building a motorcycle that ticks all the boxes we need,” he said.
“The amount of opportunities for South Africans to get stuck into something now are phenomenal.”
A delivery motorbike factory would contribute significantly to local job creation while also benefitting other industries looking to integrate these vehicles into their operations at an affordable rate.
South Africa will also be able to leverage beneficial trade agreements to boost its GDP by exporting these two-wheelers to the Southern African Development Community which comprises 16 sovereign states on the African continent, who like us, are mostly reliant on imports from India and China.
Langton is actively speaking to the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition to get the ball rolling in this regard.
However, while many industry stakeholders have come forward to voice their support for such an initiative, Langton said the going has, unfortunately, been slow.
Loading ...
