Damco set to double Africa business in next 3-5 years

FTW: What is your formula for
survival in the current recessive
climate?
RHJ: We have been very
aggressive in taking out costs
early on. We looked at where the
market was going and how we
would be hit and decided to cut
more deeply than others.
Essentially it is all about
streamlining. We have cut
management layers, taking out
middle management, but have
not cut back on the commercial
side – if anything we have added
sales people. Globally, compared
to 12 months ago, we’ve scaled
back our staff by 12%.
FTW: Are the ‘green shoots’
that everyone is talking about
for real?
RHJ:I have been saying since
the beginning of this year that we
will start seeing something of a
technical recovery from the end
of the second quarter.
We have seen some of the
consumer confidence indexes
starting to rise and the banks
are starting to lend again but we
wont see a massive uptick. We
won’t be completely out of the
woods next year but we will see
very slow recovery from now on.
FTW: How important is
southern Africa to Damco?
RHJ: If you look at the global
picture, the emerging markets are
very important – and our focus
is very much skewed to these
emerging markets and Asia.
Of the 100 countries where we
are active globally, more than 20
are in Africa while 10% of our
staff globally are in Africa.
FTW: What are the major
challenges in this market?
RHJ: The biggest one is finding
sufficient local talent. If we
want to double or treble our
business in the next five years
then we will need to identify a
lot of talent.
FTW: What about the
infrastructure shortfalls?
RHJ:We know that the
infrastructure is not perfect and
we can work around that. We
also know it’s probably going to
get better with time and that will
allow us to work more efficiently.
Despite the recession we are still
growing our business and have
added 200 people in Africa over
the past year.
FTW: What are the global
logistics trends and how does
South Africa measure up?
RHJ: In Europe and the US
importers are calling for endto-
end solutions – the challenge
here is to convince shippers not
to operate in silos but to optimise
the full supply chain.
FTW: How important is the
perishable sector to Damco?
RHJ: We are investing
significantly in growing this
segment. We have put together
a perishables team focused on
some of the south north trades
out of Africa and Latin America
into Europe and North America
and are hiring a lot of people
across the globe to push it.
Our capabilities will be attractive
particularly to people doing
direct sourcing because that’s
where you see a lot of change
today.
FTW: Your advice to
manufacturers on how to gain
market share through improved
supply chain management.
RHJ: Manufacturers have a lot
of potential to optimise their
inbound costs in particular by
applying the same concepts as
we do with retail customers.
There is a lot of untapped
potential.
FTW: Is Maersk Line your
carrier of choice?
RHJ: Five years back our
predominant line was Maersk,
but now we use a variety of
carriers globally with whom we
ship substantial volumes. We
are essentially offering a carrierneutral
solution. We don’t get any
better rates from Maersk Line
than any other line – our rates
are based on volume.
FTW: You mentioned a slow
recovery – what’s your outlook
for the next few years?
RHJ: Looking ahead I would
be disappointed if we didn’t
more than double our business in
Africa in the next 3-5 years