Movement of entire field of cars executed at short notice

Safcor Panalpina learnerships completed ahead of time
ALAN PEAT
FOR THE Durban branch of international forwarders, Safcor Panalpina, the headline news of recent months was the successful movement of the entire field of cars and the full pit equipment of the racing teams involved in the Durban A1 Grand Prix. “We were invited at short notice by Rennies Distribution Services to fly all this racing machinery across to Jakarta in Indonesia for the next race,” said John Cummins, regional director for KZN. This the company managed to do successfully - using three Boeing 747 freighter flights the week after the Durban race. “A tremendous team effort on the part of SAA Cargo, Equity Aviation and the A1 Grand Prix Load Masters ensured a quick turnaround with each flight in Durban,” Cummins added. Also - if successful learnerships are an indication of one of the best companies to work for - then Safcor Panalpina leads the field, according to HR director, Sean McSweeney. “The Durban branch has just celebrated the fact that three of its learners who were scheduled to complete their learnerships in September this year, had already finished their learnerships by early March,” he said - the first in the country from the 2005 intake to have achieved this. “One of the most valuable things we have learnt from our first experience with learnerships is that participation is a full scale commitment.” Successful learnerships, he added, mean a change in company culture and a full team effort from all levels of the company - from the learners and from the training provider. Commenting on the training aspect, Carlo Torino, HR manager in KZN said the training was ideally suited to the company’s needs. “Much of the administration and paperwork is taken care of by the training platform through which we also track learner progress at all times. The flexibility of the system allows us to accommodate the changing needs of our organisation. We also find that learners are easily able to apply what they have learnt in their practical work situations.”