Project logistics major makes official SA entry

Alan Peat A BELGIAN heavy-duty logistics group has just acquired a controlling share in an SA major in the same field and invested R150-million in the newly created local company, BD Sarens. In this deal, Beacon Dawes Crane Hire had 60% of its shareholding acquired by Sarens NV of Belgium, a company specialising in heavy-duty logistics in Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, South America and now Africa. This follows more than a year of joint-venture partnerships between the two companies on various projects. "Joining the group of 31 companies with a total turnover of 80-m euros brings a number of significant advantages to our clients," said BD Sarens m.d. Brian Croock. "The most important is the dramatic increase in the scale and scope of service we are now able to offer." The R150-m investment, Croocks added, has increased the company fleet in both overall size and the capability of the equipment. "For an engineer needing fast turnaround times in a deadline-driven environment Ð where delays can cost hundreds of thousands of rands Ð this holds great appeal," he said. "Lead times in terms of getting equipment and rigging on-site are much quicker." Already a leading provider of integrated lifting and transport logistics in southern Africa, the new company now covers the spectrum of services Ð from cranage and rigging, through air and sea freight and road transportation, to project engineering and logistics management. The SA arm of the new combine was formed in 1997, when the Super Group merged the two crane hire operations, Beacon and Dawes. Following the recent acquisition of L&T Projects and Loadstar, the business was expanded to provide a complete project logistics service to sub-Saharan Africa. This year, Super Group sold Beacon Dawes to Shamrock Global, which, in turn, sold a 60% stake to Sarens.