DP World explores SA terminal services

DP World Cargo Services, though primarily a container stevedoring company in South Africa, is exploring the option of launching a terminal service in the country, should opportunities arise. “However, at present, opportunities for any form of development seem to be outside of South Africa in other sub-Saharan countries,” said managing director Ian Hall. He told FTW that the company had opened up marine terminal services in Maputo and would soon take stevedoring services to the port of Beira in Mozambique as well. Growth in the stevedoring industry is restricted, he told FTW. “There are so many new entrants to the market and competition is fierce. Furthermore, most of the costs are labour-based and with the current volatility of the labour market, there is even more pressure to increase the cost of labour,” explained Hall. He said that this seemed to be more of a problem at the Port of Durban than at any of the other ports. And, unfortunately, there are no industry representative bodies with the right kind of influence or “teeth” to effectively address this. “Furthermore, skills are becoming ever more important as there is a renewed emphasis on safety standards, especially as the skills are disappearing with an ageing workforce. We believe that skills development needs to be put in place now and have launched our own training department which seeks to up-skill our existing, younger workforce,” said Hall. The company has also taken on its fourth learner as part of an in-house learnership programme. CAPTION Ian Hall…exploring opportunities further afield.