Innovation is key when times are tough

International Liner Agencies (ILA) welcomed spring – and the 2011 peak season – by hosting client breakfasts in Johannesburg and Durban last week. Managing director Rod Taylor told FTW that while the industry was hesitant about the traditional peak season due to the global economic slowdown, the first half of the year had shown good volume growth. “We are working very hard to create our own peak through innovation and dedication,” he said. Mike Draer, manager business development and sales for Cleve & Zonen BV, ILA’s Dutch agent, who attended the Johannesburg breakfast, said efforts to retain business would have to increase in the last few months of the year. “We have to work hard to retain business and to constantly make sure our services are the best. Innovative ways of opening new markets for our clients must be explored all the time.” He said they had recently introduced new catchment areas from Scandinavia through to Rotterdam and then onwards to South Africa as well as services from Haifa in Israel to Rotterdam and then South Africa. “Of course the same applies the other way round on the export side,” he said.