Automotive industry plans Durban supplier park

DURBAN HAS been earmarked as the site of the next automotive supplier park. A feasibility study is currently under way and 50 hectares of prime land with an additional 20 ha for expansion have already been identified for the facility, which will depend to a large extent on increases in Toyota vehicle production. The company is expected to push up production from 120 000 to 220 000 units a year by 2008, creating a critical need for a park in close proximity, according to speakers at a workshop organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport SA (CILTSA) at the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC) in Rosslyn last week. The three existing supplier parks in Pretoria, East London and Port Elizabeth have been a huge success, helping the local automotive industry to compete in a demanding global market place. By the end of this year the Rosslyn facility - established over the past four years on 140ha - will house 16 to 18 suppliers, according to Corrie Kotzé, AIDC general manager for business development. But restrictive and punitive legislation is stifling growth, says Lance Schultz, project director of the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistics Park at Uitenhage. He criticised the lack of defined strategy on the future of supply chains, problematic and time-consuming negotiations with government and the lack of resources from government, calling for the creation of incentives. Statistics reveal that the three existing automotive supplier parks generated 1 320 direct jobs in 2005 and 2 979 jobs from 2002 to 2005, with a job measured as one person employed for one year. 1 648 indirect jobs were created in 2005 mainly through the construction industry, and 8 238 in the four years 2002 to 2005, with a job measured as one person employed for 110 days. The industry has made substantial progress in entering the international supply chain with export growth rates of about 39% per annum since 1995.