Martin Rushmere
P&O NEDLLOYD has revived its Zimbabwe operation, more than 20 years after putting the company into mothballs. In a mutual agreement with Manica, which has been the local representative until now, the company will again operate directly as a ship's agent.
The main goods being handled are primary commodities, especially tobacco and cotton.
Head of the 18-strong staff in the Zimbabwe office is Gail Jenkins.
Re-entering Zimbabwe at the worst time in its history has caused some raised eyebrows. Nigel Pusey, m.d. of P&O Nedlloyd in southern Africa, freely admits the reservations that many people have had. We delayed the change for two years because of the economic and political climate. But we decided to go ahead anyway, as it is part of global decision-making and is not only for tomorrow. We are here for the long term and Zimbabwe is seen as part of our operations worldwide and should not just be seen in isolation.
In fact, setting up our own office again is much cheaper than we thought.
Huge cost and political hurdles faced by new investors have been avoided, because the company was already here. There has been no interference from the government, says Pusey, and officials have been very helpful.
He sees the immediate task as fitting the local operation into the international culture, followed by logistics.
Door to door is the name of the game and we have to provide the most efficient and customer-orientated service possible.
Beira will continue to be used, via the Unifeeder link to Durban.
It is a useful port, but is not the only outlet.
Malawi is next on the list for planting the P&O Nedlloyd flag, with tobacco and tea the main goods.
Pusey sees one logistics problem faced mainly by Zimbabwe, but also Zambia and Malawi, as the imbalance in the flow of containers. For obvious reasons there are many more boxes going out than coming in. Customers and shippers have to put their thinking caps on to come up with innovative solutions.
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