Restructured Zim ready for growth and expansion

Significant restructuring of staff and
services is paying dividends for Zim
Integrated Shipping Services South
Africa.
Nine months since managing
director Yacov Barak took over the
reins in South Africa, the company
has moved from loss to break-even,
and the foundations are now firmly
in place for the line to move forward.
The journey has been a difficult
one, involving retrenchment of
several staff at management level,
but this formed part of the overall
vision to turn the company into a
lean and efficient machine, said
Barak.
“We downsized the Johannesburg
office and centralised the operation
in Durban, which was a good move.
“We also implemented a new IT
system – IQship – which has enabled
us to reach our goal of issuing an
invoice on the same day as the vessel
sails, and the bill of lading a day
after, as long as we get the shipping
details on time.”
A re-look at service patterns
resulted in the termination of its
monthly direct service to Israel and
the Med. “But we have come up
with a far better solution for our
customers,” Barak explained.
“Due to various port-related
delays, the direct service offered
a 35-day transit to Israel. By
transhipping in Nava Sheva, we’ve
cut the transit to 25-28 days and
now provide a frequency every 11
days rather than once a month. The
response from customers has been
very positive, and on the most recent
sailing we carried 48 reefers.”
The quality of this service
is helping Zim to win back
its customers, and it’s now
concentrating on imports from
Turkey and Israel in order to
increase its allocation for West
Africa.
According to Barak, West Africa
traffic is booming and that’s an area
of strong focus for the line, which
currently calls Durban, Tema, Apapa
and Abidjan to Nava Sheva, Mundra
and Jebel Ali.
Barak believes that East Africa is
also a market of strong opportunity
and is actively looking for a partner
in order to reinstate its Mombasa and
Dar es Salaam offering.
While Barak concedes that times
are tough for the shipping industry
globally, he believes there are always
opportunities.
“My brief from the start was
to minimise costs and increase
efficiencies. This has been achieved,
and the way forward now is growth
and expansion.”