Safmarine CEO reflects on a better than
expected year, writes Ray Smuts
A CORNERSTONE of Safmarine's business philosophy is that technology will assist in personalised service levels, not replace them, says Howard Boyd, the company's chief executive officer.
Reviewing the year that was, he says it proved
to be better for container
shipping than most commentators expected, with financial returns improved under a consistent drive to reduce costs and resist freight erosion.
Regrettably, the return on capital invested remains low and indicates that structural change will continue to take place in the liner shipping industry. It is almost certain that the consolidation phase is not yet over.
Boyd says the industry was considerably assisted through the years of financial crisis by the continued rapid growth in international containerised business. As cost efficiencies continued to be harvested, the container penetrated many new commodity markets which could not have been predicted some years back. The immediate future, however, indicates somewhat slower growth as the American economy finally cools off.
In this environment, service levels to all customers will be key to customer retention. The service levels will increasingly extend from traditional liner shipping company functionality to meeting the through transport requirements of its customers.
Non-ocean leg service levels will, therefore, gain in importance as the ocean-leg becomes a given in interline comparisons.
Recent advances in computing and the global internet will considerably assist in delivering these new services in a cost-efficient and personalised way and for Safmarine the key will be combining these new technical capabilities with traditional close and personalised relationships with its customer base, says Boyd in conclusion.
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