The start of containerisation
by Mediterranean Shipping
Company (MSC) to South
Africa almost coincided
with the 1977 introduction of
containerisation
in the country
and it is
now one of
the largest
operators
linking
South
Africa with
the world
using a
global fleet
of over 500
vessels – about 100 of which service
Africa.
It began servicing East Africa
after the company’s founding in
Geneva, Switzerland, in 1970
and then followed with its South
African operations in 1970 as a
multi-purpose operator handling
breakbulk and then a combination
of breakbulk and containers.
Today it is totally a container
purveyor, says national
commercial director, Glenn
Delve.
With its handful of ships
in the mid-80s the company
was under pressure from
the conference lines and
introduced a revolutionary
“Name Day” service, which
coincided with a decision to
containerise all its operations.
This named the day that
its ships would depart
and it stuck to it.
Competitors
were sceptical,
but it
worked and is still provided today,
particularly on its premium
European routes – and competitors
adopted it on many of their routes
as well.
“It was particularly popular as it
was introduced just as the concept of
“just-in-time” delivery was catching
on to reduce
storage capacity
companies had to
carry for product
awaiting export as
they could rely on
sailing dates,” says
Delve. It attracted
major clients that
remain with MSC today.
After being a small player in the
reefer sector about a decade ago,
today it controls about 35% of the
market, mainly for citrus to Europe,
the Middle East and Far East. This
is out of Cape Town and Durban
primarily.
It has full or satellite offices in
all the major ports in sub-Saharan
Africa as well as in key inland
source areas for exports such as
Johannesburg and Pretoria and in
landlocked neighbouring countries in
the region.
“MSC Logistics is a full logistics
company. However, we don’t compete
in niche areas such as clearing and
forwarding as that is their business.
We concentrate
primarily on
ship owning and
facilitating the
trade of goods
by sea. We have
decided to enter
many areas of the
logistics chain to
reduce our reliance on third parties
so we can guarantee the service that
we offer. For very big clients such as
VW we set up an exclusive operation
in Uitenhage with them as the scale
of the logistics is immense.
“Now we have over 200 truck
owner drivers as part of a scheme
that we set up and manage in
Johannesburg as well as our own
fleet of about 100 vehicles.”
MSC today controls about
35% of the reefer market.
– Glenn Delve
