Driver training programme cuts down accidents

HIGH FUEL prices this year are “killing” the road transport industry, said Chrisilda Transport marketing manager Albert DuPont. But an in-house drivers’ instruction programme and a solid core of big clients has ensured continuing profitability for Chrisilda, Swaziland’s biggest Swazi-owned transport company. “We used to lose a truck almost every month. We put the drivers in driving school and now have our own driver instructor. Drivers do a once-a-month refresher course and accidents have decreased tremendously,” said DuPont. Chrisilda’s 50 drivers keep its 40 trucks constantly in motion for such clients as Pal Fridge, whose Swaziland-made refrigerators go to Johannesburg and northern parts of SA. From Durban, fertiliser is brought in breakbulk, and rice picked up at the port, while Chrisilda handles the citrus transport for all of Swaziland’s packing houses.