Rob Childs tells FTW's Anna Cox how he's 'steadied the ship' in his first year in office
THERE'S A long road ahead before Portnet reaches the goals it has set itself, managing director Rob Childs told FTW in an exclusive interview last week which marked his first year in the post.
Portnet is still closer to the beginning than to the end of its transformation process, he said. It is a huge, complex system with many stakeholders who hold divergent views - however, some progress has been made, he said.
One of the most important achievements in the last year was the steadying of the ship and the halting of the decline in ports. In fact, in many ports there has already been a turnaround, he said.
This was achieved by putting into place management teams and strengthening management senior levels.
We have many new faces in the port environment, he said. Management at Portnet now has an in-depth and proper understanding of what has to be done.
We are writing proposals which we will take to government this month and we are confident in what we are proposing. We have formed a clear view of what is needed, said Childs.
Progress with labour
Another important achievement was the progress which had been made with labour. There have been no major disruptions of work for the past nine months, he said.
We did this by talking to people and recognising labour as a partner and working closely with it. We have established many forums at various levels, he said.
Childs said that management of Portnet also now had a better understanding of money and budgets and how to spend its money. We are investing at unprecedented levels with a budget of R1,2 billion by the end of March and a further R1,5 billion by the end of the next financial year. We are spending money more wisely because we realise money is becoming increasingly expensive and scarce, he said. Portnet has succeeded in working with outsiders, such as consultants, to find solutions to problems which had vexed ports.
Consultants have paid off
The consultants paid off and already our productivity has improved significantly in many areas especially at the container terminals in Cape Town. Durban has also shown some improvement, he said.
Each port is now operating as a separate business unit and is being thoroughly assessed according to international standards. We are right-sizing and right-shaping each business unit to get them all into shipshape condition, he said.
There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on in costing, systems, technology use of IT in ports, marketing, human resources and communications, the results of which are not yet transparent, said Childs.
