Safmarine’s Jones sees merit in ‘vehicles only’ port in PE

RAY SMUTS ALL PLAYERS in the automotive logistics chain must collaborate in terms of efficiency for South Africa to compete effectively in the global marketplace. “Whether it is the shipping lines, the ports or the infrastructure, we have to get our efficiency lines to levels where we can compete internationally,” says Safmarine’s Africa region executive, Alan Jones, who offers some food for thought on the subject of automotive logistics. Why not consider directing all in-and outgoing, non-automotive cargo through the port of Coega and transforming Port Elizabeth into an exclusive “’car port”, along with tourist facilities to include accommodation establishments the city is bound to need once Coega is a reality? “I hope Coega works because one of the problems we face is that ports like Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, being as close as they are to the city, are congested and will become more so as South African trade grows.” Jones is heartened by huge investments committed recently by foreign parent automotive companies notably DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen and General Motors - with more likely to follow. “To survive in the South African motor industry, to get the rebates from the Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) you have to be heavily reliant on exports because the local market is still relatively small, making economy of scale benefits difficult to achieve.” It is in this context, he believes, the country’s ports have a vital role to play in assuring productivity remains key and that the answer from an export vehicle perspective might lie in a ‘separate, vehicles-only, port’. “The tendency is to look at our ports and compare them with Dar es Salaam or other African ports, which is not what we are competing against . It boils down to South Africa getting business ahead of someone else and therefore we need to compare ourselves with the world’s super ports “If we can get that right there is huge potential because we are ideally situated between east and west and could well become a hub area for Africa and the rest of the world.”