1999 is a milestone year for groupage operator Thrutainers International which celebrates 21 years in the business this month.
From a humble two-man beginning in May 1978, when the first of its many services started between Durban and Rotterdam, the company now employs more than 120 staff members with its own offices and container terminals in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
A big event on its calendar this year is the relocation of its Wadeville operation to City Deep where it is developing a container and cargo terminal.
City Deep has always been the logical relocation site for us, but until now it was not feasible, m.d. Hugo de Oliveira told FTW.
The development of an area at City Deep by Rand Mine Properties coupled with the fact that Thrutainers had outgrown its current premises in Wadeville, were the catalysts for the move.
It will be a brand new facility, suited to containerised imports and exports and able to handle FCLs (full container loads), De Oliveira said. Vehicles will be accommodated within the yard. Thrutainers will also establish its own office in Port Elizabeth.
Electronic sophistication has been the company's by-word since its inception. All its offices operate from a single database and systems are currently being upgraded. By August this year exporters will have access to electronic bills of lading while importers are already able to check, via the Internet, whether containers have been unpacked at any of Thrutainers' depots.
Ensuring service continuity, a second generation of management is taking over the reins.
Andre de Oliveira joined the company four years ago and has been running the Cape Town operation since 1997. Gabriel de Oliveira joined recently and will be based at Thrutainers in Johannesburg.
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