R1,5m Jo'burg anti-crime project keeps thieves in check

NO LOSSES at all in the Xmas shopping rush
of November through to January.
That was the latest report from Isobel Louw, manager of Saftainer/ Roadwing, about the continuing success of the anti-crime project that was put into place three years ago by the main container operators at the Kazerne container depot in Johannesburg.
This was a three-way anti-crime scheme funded at
R500 000 a year each from Transnet, MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) and Saftainer/ Roadwing. This total of R1.5-million was allocated to the salary of a risk manager in each company, and a contribution towards the operating costs of a special container theft task force that had been established with the SAPS under the scheme.
Others who have been introduced to the scheme have been deterred by that half-million cost, according to Louw. But that's really short-term thinking, she said. One big container theft, and that's a million bucks down the drain.
And, considering the extremely high loss-rate that was experienced at Kazerne before the scheme was introduced (multi-millions a year) that R500 000 cost suddenly takes on the appearance of being peanuts.