Resource-rich market opens opportunities for shipping line

Safmarine Zambia has embarked on a range of initiatives to take advantage of the favourable economic environment in the country. “The import and export market of resource-rich Zambia has grown as the government embraces direct foreign investment in both the agricultural and mining sectors,” says Andrew Kuster, country manager for Zimbabwe and Zambia. “Not only has Safmarine Zambia focused on developing relationships and partnerships to help meet Zambia’s export equipment needs, but the line has also implemented a number of business improvements aimed at enhancing the overall quality of its customer service in the region,” says Kuster. “One of our priorities has been to look at where we can free up staff time, for example, by outsourcing nonvalue- adding activities and in doing so, give our all-female Safmarine Zambia team more time to focus on our customers.” The company has also encouraged its customers to provide honest feedback through its Customer Satisfaction Survey and is using their input to identify and implement specific solutions and further improvements to its business processes. “We recognise that our customers have different needs and expectations and that it is important for us to understand those. This is why we have implemented individual Service Level Understandings with our customers, which are reviewed periodically by the Safmarine Zambia team.”