Industry confident that TPT is on the right track

The freight industry is still abuzz with talk of the big management changes conducted at Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) three weeks ago, with the roadshow publicising the new business plan still buzzing round the countryside. A main impression gained by FTW from freight contacts is that “sweeping” is certainly the word for this development. There are 22 names mentioned in the TPT media release, or outdated equipment and infrastructure,” said Watts, “and poor performance can only be placed at the door of management and the level of training and skills available to them.” As FTW turned its attention to Cape Town, Mike Walwyn, director of Seaboard and Western Cape chairman of Saaff, was trite and to the point. “I’m not sure we know enough about these new people yet,” he said. “But our general feeling is that changes were necessary, and that there were management problems at the Cape Town terminal. If this is an attempt to rectify this, then it is to be welcomed.” But Cape port users still remain hesitant, and whether this new business plan will work in practice is another question, according to Walwyn. “The jury’s still out on that,” he said. Moving to Port Elizabeth, Eben Joubert, branch manager of ship’s agency, King & Sons, was first to speak. Talking about the appointment of Ntomboxolo ‘Nikki’ Mbengashe (former BUE of Saldanha then Richards Bay multipurpose terminals) as mananger of the PE terminal, Joubert said: “There is no negative feeling here (in PE). In our case we need to see what she can bring to TPT service delivery levels in PE.” This was followed with some feedback from PE Freight Industry Forum (FIF) chairman, Lance Petersen, branch manager of SAEL and Eastern Cape director of Saaff. “We welcome efforts to strengthen the management structures in PE,” he told FTW. “But, in all fairness, we need to give the good lady time to find her feet first and foremost, and then to prove she is up to the challenge.” The forum sees the sense in splitting the management of the PE terminal and the terminal at the nearby new port of Ngqura – where former incumbent Hector Danisa, managed both. “Having dedicated BUEs for each port makes sense,” Petersen said, “so that each can focus on the unique challenges they face. Not all the commentators were however supportive or in a wait-andsee mood. The senior executive of a major freight group, who wished to remain nameless, was adamant that the changes were welcome – but went nowhere near far enough. most of them new to their positions, and almost all are business unit executives (BUE) or higher. It also saw a top-level GM being appointed, a new department formed, and four other operational sectors reduced to three. And, since then, there has been an even higher-level story, with former CE Tau Morwe moving out to take over Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) – bereft of its top executive by the suspension of CE, Siyabonga Gama – and being replaced by Karl Socikwa, previously Transnet’s group executive: commercial, and now appointed acting interim head of TPT. A number of industry voices told FTW that they couldn’t remember so many high-level management and structural changes in any private sector corporate – and that any change of this magnitude was bound to have repercussions. But the other opinion expressed by most of the freight industry members we spoke to was that a lot of the names were not well known to them, if at all, and it was a bit of a “wait-and-see” period until it could be ascertained what was happening in practice. Others commentators took it a bit further. The consensus in the shipping industry in SA, according to Andrew Thomas, CEO of Ocean Africa Container Line (OACL) and chairman of the SA Association of Ship Operators and Agents (Saasoa), is that TPT is focusing on the right area – management. At a high-level meeting with Transnet, including acting CEO Chris Wells and the new BUEs at TPT, the lines’ understanding was that the TPT refocus on getting efficiencies in its infrastructure saw the operator appointing only people who had specialised in their specific areas of responsibility. “For them to realise the potential of their assets,” said Thomas, “we need to see an improvement in the productivity. “We’re supportive of all their efforts and pleased that they are focusing on the management.” Because Transnet is a geographically isolated port operator, it doesn’t share the global experiences of the world’s major operators. There’s therefore a definite lack of people with international experience to share within the group, according to Thomas. And the lines have some advice to offer on the subject, he added. “They need ‘hired guns’ from the best of international talent,” he told FTW, “which can lead to a transfer of skills process and help to develop the local skills to effectively operate the high-tech equipment TPT now has.” The consensus in the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) was in similar vein, according to Durban-based maritime adviser, Dave Watts, who suggested that the changes in management announced do in fact indicate an understanding of some of the difficulties facing TPT. The forwarders’ body also agreed that, over recent years, there had been a process of equipment replacement and refurbishment at the three major terminals in Durban and Cape Town. “Lack of service delivery can no longer be laid at the door of insufficient