Fledgling branch embarks on major sales drive

Optimistic about Coega RAY SMUTS THE Port Elizabeth branch of ZA Trans Logistics is a slender six months old, but Knut Beining is optimistic huge opportunities abound in the province, stiff competition notwithstanding. Overseeing the Eastern Cape operation from Cape Town where he is the company’s branch manager, Beining says: “There is obviously a lot happening there with Coega coming online next year. “I am still very optimistic about that development because the Eastern Cape, being very much an ANC stronghold, will ensure it comes to fruition.” Starting with a staff of three and from a zero base in March 1, the Port Elizabeth branch is headed by operations controller Tyrone Booysen, and Beining is confident the complement will grow to ten by the end of the year. “We are doing a major sales drive around Port Elizabeth to offer our full spectrum of logistics services. We hope to secure up to 5% of the Eastern Cape’s freight forwarding business within three years,” says Beining, who cut his freight forwarding teeth with companies like Schenker and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics over a career spanning 25 years. He shares the view of some in the shipping industry that two ports (Port Elizabeth and Ngqura) close to each other makes little sense in the short term but believes major shipping lines will ultimately benefit by putting the new generation of larger vessels into a single deep water port like the Coega development and moving cargo from there to other destinations via feeder services.