Eulogies and reminiscences keep coming in following the Spring Day story that a well-known South African shipping brand will completely disappear off the radar despite a commitment to brand preservation following its takeover by Maersk - “End of an era as Maersk drops Safmarine brand”.
In the interests of sharing some of these views, which were aired through social media, Freight News has decided to publicise some of them here.
Names are being withheld to protect the innocent, and perhaps not so innocent.
The comment chain, in chronological order, is as follows:
- I find it very sad to see the disappearance of the brand with so much history.
- Very sad as you say. So much excellent institutional value to add. The people are key.
- The end of an era.
- As a former Safmariner this is very, very personal. Safmarine is a great brand in the shipping world. Putting people first being its philosophy. I will miss the brand and the people it stood for. I think for Safmariners this will be a painful transition and I have them in my thoughts. This is a sad day overall.
- A lot of South African clients will be sad to see this brand sink. Goodbye Safmarine.
- As a former Safmariner (and hugely passionate about ‘our’ brand) I was very sad to hear about this development. However, hats off to all Safmariners whose passion and dedication kept the brand alive for so many years after the APM (asset performance management) acquisition. I will always be a Safmariner at heart. All the best for this transition.
- Sad news indeed. I started my cadetship on board the SA Waterberg (fondly referred to as the Big Whites).
- Really sad for all the Safmariners.
- Safmarine formed part of my career in the industry. Sad to see the disappearance but it took APM 21 years. Others move much faster.
- I agree. Once they’d offloaded Safmarine MPV (multi-purpose vessel), the real differentiator was gone and the writing was on the wall.
- RIP Saf.
- Unfortunately economies are shrinking and business is still slow all across the globe. Call it reshuffling, scaling down, reorganisation; it all comes down to consolidations among all sectors.
A seafreight representative who personally approached Freight News about the story is Wayne Meyer, sales manager at Bidvest SACD (South African Container Depots).
He said: “I had heard a while ago that the Safmarine brand was going to be dissolved or should I say rolled into the Maerskline brand.
“As an ex-Safmariner I am very saddened by this. I would dare say that if you ask a Cape Townian about Safmarine, the chances are good that they either worked for Safmarine or knew of someone who did. The brand was not only proudly South African, but proudly Cape Townian!”
Meyer also shared with Freight News a picture of a certificate Safmarine issued to SACD in 1977.
The occasion was “when Safmarine brought its first containerised cargo ship into Cape Town, the SA Langeberg.
“SACD was the depot where these containers were housed,” Meyer said.
