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.”