Besnard takes on Saasoa challenge

The SA Association of Ship Operators and Agents (Saasoa) now has new hands at the helm in the form of Peter Besnard, former senior vice-president of Evergreen Agency, and since May 20 acting CEO of the association. An initial task, he told FTW, is to bring the association back to the strength it had in the industry – with the force it used to exert when it was the Association of Ships’ Agents and Brokers of Southern Africa (Asabosa). “Having seen it with the eyes of a line agent, it seemed to have throttled back a bit,” he said. “Now I have to get it back up to full steam.” There are a lot of challenges facing Saasoa, according to Besnard. “The main issue is the current state of containerisation in the ports, particularly in Durban,” he said, “mainly involving the serious delays being experienced and the infrastructure in the terminals. “We need to work together with Transnet to resolve these issues, and to bring the ports up to the level of performance and productivity that they should be to meet the needs of the modern-day shipping industry. “Given some effort, Durban, for example, could become a port well recognised for its abilities to operate as well as the other main ports around the world.”