Well positioned for the upswing

The ships' agency
group, Sturrock
Grindrod Maritime
(SGM), has managed
to maintain its market share
and has even grown some
of its trade volumes despite
ever-declining freight rates,
according to director Clive
James.
“The extremely depressed
freight rates have impacted
negatively on the majority
of our ship-owning and
operating principals, with
the oil and commodity price
slump having had a similar
effect on our mining and
trading clients,” he said.
The primary focus
for SGM had been on
consolidation and costcutting,
and passing on
savings to the client base to
help them weather the storm,
he added.
He said the company had
switched its systems over to
the SAP C4C CRM platform
– a user-friendly Cloud
system that takes a mobilefirst
approach, designed
to provide customers with
information at any time and
in any location.
This, according to James,
allowed the group to get
closer to its clients and to
better understand their
needs, while systematically
pursuing its new business
pipeline.
“We are also busy with
the implementation of the
SAP ERP solution across
our divisions which will
drive further efficiencies
and provide us with
powerful, real time business
intelligence,” he told FTW.
“New technologies that we
view as differentiators are
also being considered.
“We believe we are well
positioned for further
growth when the upswing
comes around.”
However, there are
little or no signs that this
upswing is yet anywhere
on the horizon. According
to James, apart from trade
agreements signed between
the US and SA earlier
this year, there were no
indicators suggesting that
growth in trade had been
accomplished. Indeed, in
some areas like the US,
there had been contraction
in trade volumes, both in
inbound bulk and breakbulk,
and outbound in bulk
commodities.
He added that SGM
would continue to pursue
its ambitions in emerging
markets in the Indian Ocean
rim region.
“Our sights are set on the
Middle East and South-East
Asia,” he said.
“We have a strong Middle
Eastern client base. And
trade between that region
and East and southern Africa
continues to grow. Given
our comprehensive East
African footprint
we see this as a
natural progression.
Our businesses in
Australasia are well
supported by a client
base operating out
of South-East Asia
and China. We have a
representative presence
in China but are also looking
at expansion options in some
of the emerging economies of
South East Asia.”
In its stable, SGM has ships
agencies King & Sons, Mitchell
Cotts, Sturrock, and Voigt in
SA, and also Hetherington
Kingsbury and McArthur in
Australia. It has 50 offices
in 11 countries across Africa,
Australia and elsewhere
around the globe.