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PE port gets first ISO rating - Freight & Trading Weekly - 25 February 2000 edition -
- Freight & Trading Weekly
25 February 2000 edition
PE port gets first ISO rating
Ed Richardson
PORT ELIZABETH harbour's dry bulk terminal is the first in the port to achieve ISO 9002 quality accreditation. The dry bulk terminals at Saldanha Bay and Richards Bay were the first to receive the certification.Nad Govender, Port Elizabeth port operations manager, says the port is aiming at ISO 9002 accreditation for all of its operations.
"The dry bulk terminal was our first action because we realised that there was an urgent need to resolve some problems," says terminal manager Oscar Borchards.
The next step, he says, is ISO 14000 environmental accreditation for the terminal. An environmental manager, Mandisa Mondi, has been appointed by the port to manage this process.
"We are presently doing a scoping exercise of the entire port to establish our needs, and then to implement actions to secure an acceptable environment which should lead to us obtaining ISO 14000 accreditation for the port," says Govender.
Portnet Port Elizabeth decided to work towards ISO accreditation in the interests of both its neighbours and its customers, he says.
"We believe in complying with our customers' requirements in order to make them more competitive in the global market."
The customers for the dry bulk terminal are Samancor and Assmang both of which have ISO 9002 accreditation.
It took a year and a half to obtain ISO 9002 accreditation for the dry bulk terminal, but Govender believes the process will be a whole lot faster with the other Port Elizabeth operations.
"We started with the most difficult one, partly because it is the terminal which has the greatest effect on the community, both in terms of aesthetics and dust."
The dry bulk terminal borders on Kings Beach, one of Port Elizabeth's main swimming beaches. It is also clearly visible from the beachfront apartments lining Beach Road.
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