IT WAS a baptism by fire Ð or rather by storm Ð for newly arrived P&O Nedlloyd managing director Ð Southern African region, Barry New, who moved into his new home in Cape Town as the worst storms in decades lashed the Mother City. Having survived the elements, New is more than equal to the challenge of developing P&O NedlloydÕs inter and intra-African activities, covering not only the seafreight trade lanes but its inland operations, electronic trading and developing more integrated services into new areas within southern Africa. His first African port of call last week was Malawi where he was on hand for the official opening of P&O NedlloydÕs own office in the region. He takes over from Nigel Pusey who has been promoted to director corporate accounting based in the UK. Like his predecessor, New started off in the financial industry moving into shipping Ð initially bulk and later containerised cargo - in the mid 1970s. Most of his career has been within the P&O Group which he joined in 1986. In his early career he spent two years in Italy where he was responsible for developing the Mediterranean market. In 1995 he took over responsibility for the logistics operation, charged with developing the global network of logistics capabilities. It was in this capacity that he visited South Africa for the first time in 1998 to assess the logistics capabilities. In 1999 he returned to the liner business as sales and marketing director for Europe based in the Netherlands, the position he held before his current appointment.
