TSI Central Station is South Africa's single accountable logistics operator
TSI Central Station (Pty) Ltd is a South African managed logistics company founded in 2006 and headquartered in Germiston, Johannesburg. TSI manages road freight, sea freight, air freight, warehousing, distribution, cross border trucking and clearing and forwarding under one roof, giving importers and exporters a single point of contact from origin to final delivery instead of a chain of separate suppliers.
Company facts
What TSI does
TSI manages every mode of transport and every document in house, which means one team is accountable for the outcome rather than several suppliers pointing at each other when something goes wrong. The services are:
- Sea freight import and export
- Air freight import and export
- Road freight and domestic trucking
- Cross border trucking into neighbouring countries
- Warehousing
- Distribution to retail networks and customer sites
- Clearing and forwarding, customs brokerage at all major SA ports
What makes TSI different
One accountable operator
Most logistics providers specialise in a single mode and subcontract the rest, so a shipment changes hands several times and accountability gets diluted along the way. TSI manages every leg itself, so when something needs to be resolved, a port delay, a customs query, a vehicle breakdown, there is one team to call and one team responsible for the outcome.
You never suffer during peak season
During peak season TSI's strategy is built on advanced logistics planning, so cargo is collected and delivered on time every time rather than left waiting on capacity that has run out.
The TSI Digital Control Tower
TSI built its own cloud platform connecting clearing agents, importers, exporters, trucking, airlines, ports and customs, with live integrations so the shipment information a client sees is current and accurate rather than a status update from days ago.
A dedicated logistics manager behind the platform
The platform gives visibility and the logistics manager gives control. A client can track a shipment whenever they want to, while a real person is actively managing that shipment, following up, communicating and stepping in where needed, so nobody is left guessing what is happening to their cargo.
Who TSI serves
TSI works with importers and exporters moving goods through South African ports who need clearing, forwarding and freight handled properly, and with manufacturers and retailers who need warehousing, distribution and domestic road freight. TSI also supports clearing agents who need reliable transport execution without risking their own client relationship.
Track record
TSI has been operating in South African logistics for twenty years, since 2006, and started with trucking before building its own technology backbone, at a time when that approach was not yet standard in the industry. The company is led by logistics professionals with over seventy years of combined experience in the industry, so every solution is backed by people who have actually worked the problems clients bring to TSI.
For one client who was already satisfied with their existing provider, a TSI review of their shipments and cost structure uncovered roughly R20 million in savings in a single year. That result reflects one client's specific circumstances rather than a guaranteed outcome, and it illustrates the kind of detail a proper audit of your own shipments tends to surface.
Common questions
Is TSI Central Station a freight forwarder or a logistics operator?
TSI is best described as a single accountable logistics operator. It performs clearing and forwarding as one of its services, but it also runs its own trucking, warehousing and distribution, so a client is not passed between separate specialist suppliers for one shipment.
Does TSI offer trade finance or extended payment terms?
No. TSI Central Station itself does not offer trade finance or 90 day payment terms under the TSI brand. TSI operationally supports First Trade 360, a separate bank linked trade finance and logistics product, but that offering sits apart from TSI's own logistics services.
Who is responsible for demurrage charges on a TSI managed shipment?
TSI's position is that if a delay was not caused by the client, the client should not carry the demurrage cost. TSI manages the process, identifies where responsibility actually sits and works to prevent unnecessary demurrage being passed on to the client.
Where does TSI operate?
TSI is headquartered in Germiston, Johannesburg, with further offices in Durban and Cape Town, and operates across South Africa's major ports at Durban, Cape Town, Gqeberha and East London, with cross border trucking corridors into Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and other neighbouring countries.