Shipping Alfie Cox’s racing Nissan Navara from Durban, KwaZulu Natal to Buenos Aires in Argentina on 3rd December 2009, marked the start of South Africa’s 2010 Dakar Rally adventure. This is a race within a race! The container housing the PS Laser Nissan Navara, all spares and equipment required for 17 race days in Argentina and Chile, had to reach the Argentinean capital on 30th December 2009, in time for administrative and technical scrutineering. Gauteng-based global third party logistics company Savino Del Bene South Africa (SAVINO), was entrusted with the task of delivering the Nissan to Buenos Aires by deadline. Headquartered in Florence, Italy, SAVINO is a major player in the automotive industry, handling exports and clearing for a number of major motor vehicle manufacturers, including Nissan. The PS Laser Nissan Navara is the champion of multiple national off road and enduro races in South Africa. Alfie, and friend, German businessman, Jurgen Schroder, are the latest recipients of more than a dozen Nissan Navara racing versions built by Nissan Motorsport in Midrand and shipped to overseas customers in recent years by SAVINO. Another Nissan Motorsport built racing Navara was recently shipped to new owner, former Polish and European rally champion, Krzysztof Holowczyc. Fifth overall in the 2009 Dakar Rally in a South African-built Navara, Krzysztof raced his new car in the 2010 Dakar in January. He, Alfie and Russian off road enthusiast, Alexander Mironenko, is a three-car South African-built Nissan Navara team which raced under the banner of Belgium’s Team Overdrive in 2010. The 12-day journey by sea around the southern tip of Africa and across the Atlantic ocean, although not as demanding as the 9 000 kilometres-plus faced by the three South African Nissans and the other 373 competitors in the Dakar, presents its own challenges. Ivar Tollefsen, part of a four-car team entered by Team Overdrive in 2009, which included Krzysztof and managed by Nissan Motorsport’s Glyn Hall nearly did not receive his Navara in time for the inaugural South American version of the Dakar Rally in Buenos Aires. The container truck transporting the Nissan and its spares en route from Johannesburg to Durban, missed the vessel after delays in completing Customs inspections. SAVINO arranged for the container to be loaded on to the Hamburg Sud’s Rio Negro that was to leave Durban a few days later. While still docked in Durban, the ship developed engine problems and eventually set sail for South America on 13th December 2008 – six days late. Because of the delays, the ship had to dock in Sepetiba instead of as scheduled in Buenos Aires, necessitating transshipment of the Nissan cargo to Buenos Aires. The captain of the Rio Negro obtained permission to increase his usual speed to arrive in Sepetiba in time for transfer to the connecting vessel, Rio de Janeiro. Arriving in Buenos Aires on 29th December 2008, the container was off loaded, custom cleared and released to a relieved Glyn Hall and team on 30th December. “The 2008/2009 ‘race’ could not have been tighter or more dramatic,” said Hall. “All credit is due to SAVINO in South Africa and South America. Because they have never let us down, we were confident that Alfie’s Navara would reach Buenos Aires for scrutinising on 30th December 2009. A shipping agent does not go home at 5 o’clock in the afternoon - they are always available,” says Hall. SAVINO Managing Director, Kobus Maree admits that the successful offloading of Ivar’s Navara was the biggest challenge SAVINO ever faced. “We had to pull a lot of strings as these logistical challenges require major preparation. It is all about the people we rely on and once the urgency of the situation was understood, we cut through bureaucracy and red tape.” Ivar and his English co-driver, Quin Evans, finished the 2009 Dakar Rally in a remarkable fourth overall, winning the class for production vehicles. Ivar’s fourth is believed to be the highest achieved by a privateer in the modern era Dakar.
