Van Maasdyk heads new tank container agency

Foreshore Tank Containers makes its entry Leonard Neill FORESHORE SHIPPING in Durban has acquired the South African agency for tank container line Taby Schiffarts-und Speditions GmbH. As a result it has formed a new division, Foreshore Tank Containers, headed up by general manager Dave van Maasdyk. "Taby has been calling on South Africa as part of the German line's worldwide service for the past five years, but mainly operating on a small scale," says Van Maasdyk. "Safmarine handled them mainly in receiving containers and repatriating them. But Taby now wants to develop more export business, which requires greater hands-on attention, and that is where I come in." Van Maasdyk was line manager for K Line from 1994 until May this year when the new set-up involving K Line, PIL and MISC replaced the former Safari service on the Asia/South Africa route. In the restructuring process, with Foreshore already South African agents for PIL, he elected to move to the tank container section. It's a field in which he had been involved while with Unicorn, where he spent 15 years prior to his K Line appointment. "I've always wanted to get back into the tank container sector of shipping and this new role offers me the opening I have been seeking," he said.