Bringing decades of experience to the position, Paul Stephen has been appointed general manager of Johannesburgbased Unitrans Freight Forwarding and Clearing. A self-confessed proponent of change – for the right reasons – his immediate priority will be to promote efficiency and grow market share. Stephen began his career with Safmarine at the start of containerisation and has since held a range of diversified roles in the shipping industry. He was Western Cape regional manager of Saftainer prior to that company’s re-inclusion into Safmarine and was also involved in the change process with Safmarine in Antwerp following the line’s acquisition by the AP Moller Group. After his stint in Antwerp, Stephen helped to set up the INTTRA global shipping portal, involving many of the world’s leading shipping lines. He subsequently moved to Hong Kong to establish INTTRA in the Asia Pacific region – from there expanding to India and the Middle East and Africa. Before his appointment by Unitrans, Stephen was involved in several consulting projects in the industry. “My focus for UFFC is the future,” he told FTW. “Unitrans is well placed and growing steadily. It is business as usual with the existing strong management team and vastly experienced personnel continuing to provide the same high quality personal service to its customers. In addition, we will be concentrating on how to be more costefficient. Growth has to come in the economy and we need to be prepared.” While Asia will continue to be a strong focus market, Stephen sees Africa as a growing imperative “We’ll be strengthening our structure to take advantage of growth, and part of this will be closer relationships with our agents in Africa and globally. “As part of Kap International, Unitrans Forwarding offers a great deal of in-house value. In teaming up with other Unitrans divisions it can also offer extended supply chain solutions to customers.” Stephen believes that Sars’ modernisation programme is challenging the traditional customs brokerage model and that the industry needs to respond to that. “Freight forwarding companies that succeed in the future will need to provide a significant value proposition. We must as an industry be able to provide importers with a supply chain that’s reliable enough for them to reduce their inventory holdings.”
