New South Africa Shipping (NSAS) has streamlined its operations, staff and expenditure and is looking to diversify its services to offer the total logistics solution from “supplier origin to the end-user’s door”, said the company’s financial manager Vanessa Naidoo. “Our goal is to remain competitive despite several industry challenges. These include the ongoing threat of labour unrest and strike action and lowered household expenditure,” said Naidoo. “Essentially businesses are forced to look at short-term objectives and we have had to adapt our strategy in line with that. We have unfortunately lost some business to new players in the market but 90% of those customers have returned to us because they simply don’t get the service guarantees from the new players.” She added that one of the major obstacles to the growth of the industry was the oversupply of players competing – “and there is no regulating body to ensure that standards of service are upheld.” Naidoo believes the key to retaining customers is to strategically partner with them and to understand their business. “That way, we continually adapt our strategies to meet their demands and the relationship is strengthened and loyalty is built,” she said. “For example, if a client needs urgent stock supplies, we send our trucks into the port at all hours to pick up stock and ensure it gets to the end destination as quickly as possible.” CAPTION Colin Clegg, MD of Terex Port Equipment Southern Africa, with Vanessa Naidoo of New South Africa Shipping (NSAS). Terex recently used NSAS to manage all the shipping of all the components of nine big forklifts to the Port of Richards Bay currently, and many of the components for the 28 straddle carriers delivered to Durban Container Terminal (DCT) at the end of 2011.
