Airfreight Imports Controller

Airfreight Imports Controller, Experienced

Clear It Faster

📍 Kempton Park, Johannesburg | 🕘 Full-Time | On-Site

Atrax Logistics SA is a proudly South African logistics powerhouse with almost three decades of freight forwarding experience. From our African Control Centre in Johannesburg, we run airfreight, seafreight, bonded warehousing, cross-border trade, e-commerce fulfilment, and customs solutions.

We are looking for an experienced Airfreight Imports Controller to run a live file portfolio from pre-alert through to delivery. This is a hands-on operational role for someone who already knows the airport, knows the handlers, and knows what a SARS query looks like before it becomes a crisis.

Read This Part Carefully

A significant portion of our inbound work is time-critical and aerospace cargo. AOG components, production-critical parts, and shipments where the client is measuring the delay in hours and rands, not days.

That changes the job. Cargo does not land between nine and five, and neither does the problem that comes with it. You will at times be working after hours, on weekends, and on public holidays to keep a critical shipment moving. This is not occasional overtime dressed up as flexibility. It is a genuine part of the role and we would rather you know that now than three months in.

What matters most to us is not how many years you have on paper. It is whether you can hold your nerve when a critical file goes wrong at 17:00 on a Friday, work the problem instead of reporting it, and keep the client informed the whole way through. Speed and efficiency are the product here. So is communication. A client who is updated every step of the way will forgive a delay. A client who has to phone and ask will not.

You Will Not Be Doing Entries

We have a dedicated in-house customs team. They frame the entries, handle tariff classification, and manage valuation. That is deliberate. It means you spend your day moving cargo and managing clients rather than sitting in a customs system.

What you do need is a solid working understanding of the customs process, enough to know what your customs colleagues need from you, when a file is going to hit a problem, and how to keep a clearance moving without waiting to be told. If you can frame your own entries, that is a bonus we will happily use. It is not a requirement.

Key Responsibilities

Time-Critical and Aerospace Cargo

• Handle AOG and production-critical shipments with priority handling from arrival to delivery
• Drive clearance and release in the shortest possible time, working handlers and the customs team directly
• Maintain live, proactive client communication on every critical file, updates go out before they are requested
• Escalate early and clearly the moment a critical file is at risk
• Carry after-hours and weekend responsibility on critical cargo as part of the team rota

File Management

• Action pre-alerts, check MAWB, HAWB, and consol manifest accuracy on receipt
• Track flight arrivals and manage delays, short-shipments, and split consignments proactively
• Coordinate breakdown, cargo release, and collection with ACS, Menzies, Swissport, and other handlers
• Issue arrival notices, secure charge collection, and manage release authorisations
• Own your files end to end, from pre-alert to POD, with no handover gaps

Customs Liaison

• Hand clean, complete documentation to the customs team so entries are not delayed by missing information
• Understand where a file sits in the clearance process at all times and drive it forward
• Chase supporting documents, permits, and certificates from clients and agents ahead of time
• Support the customs team on SARS stops, inspections, and detentions by managing the client, the handler, and the timeline
• Recognise when a shipment carries a regulatory requirement (ITAC, NRCS, SAHPRA, DAFF) and flag it early
• Understand Incoterms well enough to know who is responsible for what, and raise it when a client has it wrong

Client and Partner Communication

• Keep clients updated proactively, before they ask, on every file and especially on critical ones
• Liaise with overseas agents on documentation, discrepancies, and pre-alert quality
• Communicate bad news early and with a plan attached

Delivery and Cost Control

• Coordinate delivery scheduling with the transport desk and confirm PODs
• Minimise storage, demurrage, and state warehouse exposure across your portfolio
• Match supplier invoices, control disbursements, and close files cleanly and on time
• Maintain accurate job costing in Shipshape so billing goes out without chasing

Minimum Requirements

• 5+ years as an airfreight imports controller within freight forwarding
• Proven hands-on experience with time-critical, AOG, or aerospace cargo
• Genuine willingness and availability to work after hours, weekends, and public holidays when critical cargo requires it
• A clear working understanding of the South African customs clearance process and what drives delays
• Working knowledge of Incoterms
• Proficiency in Shipshape (mandatory)
• Good Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel and Outlook
• Valid driver's licence and own transport

Advantageous, not required

• Ability to frame your own customs entries
• Experience with tariff classification and valuation
• Exposure to bonded movements, RIB and RIT

The Person We Want

• Thrives under pressure, gets faster and sharper when the clock is running, not slower
• A relentless communicator who updates clients without being prompted
• Organised, methodical, and genuinely accurate on documentation
• Decisive, works the problem instead of escalating it upward
• Takes ownership without needing to be chased
• Good energy. We work closely together and personality counts here

What We Offer

• Market-related salary
• Medical aid, life cover, and retirement annuity contributions
• A dedicated customs team behind you, so you focus on cargo and clients, not entries
• Investment in AI and automation tools that cut the admin out of your day
• Real progression, this is a business that promotes from within
• Exposure to aerospace and critical cargo work that most forwarders never touch
• A performance-driven environment with global reach and African roots

Atrax is where local grit meets world-class freight. Proudly South African, fiercely independent, globally respected.

If you can clear cargo faster than the next forwarder and keep the client informed while you do it, apply via LinkedIn.