‘Companies forced to do more with less

As mining companies employ survivalist strategies to achieve the status quo, the biggest challenge at present is to offer quality of service at dramatically reduced margins given the increase in labour costs, electricity and general inflation. “While demand for product remains high, mining companies are carefully balancing recent challenges in order to work towards achieving expected output targets,” says Paul Levy, sales director at the Bridge Shipping Group. “Companies are having to do more with less,” said Levy. “This affects staffing, machinery and land use. There are logistics challenges for the sector and we will probably experience a consolidation of the various service providers as the commercial pie shrinks.” At the same time as the mining business becomes more marginal, Levy said, so volumes are going to have to increase to help companies reach their targeted goals. “Because the increased product volume needs to be shipped, the rail, ports and roads will need to cope with this demand. To achieve this infrastructure must be upgraded.” Against this background, Levy says there is a definite move towards quality selection. People are selecting brands and services they know they will be able to rely on if things become acutely worse. Now more than ever it is quality above all else. He said the Bridge Shipping Group’s association with C Steinweg was a valuable differentiator – with international brands increasingly sought after as business partners. “It is all about being able to survive in the current economic times where companies are applying more stringent economic measures to ensure their ongoing survival,” he said. CAPTION Paul Levy … ‘Now more than ever it is quality above all else.’