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FRIDAY 4 December 2009 NO. 1891
The Freight Community’s Weekly Newspaper for Import / Export decision makers – on subscription
Damasane United speaks Statesout on TPT restructuring USA UK By Ray Smuts
Transnet Port Terminals’ huge new restructuring plan, possibly the country’s largest in one fell swoop, is all about a smoother, more efficiently running corporate engine, chief operating officer, Nosipho Damasane, said in Cape Town last week. It’s not about trying to fit square pegs in round holes but focusing instead on particular, demonstrated skills of senior management. There’s also a strong emphasis on across-the-board training, with customer needs first and foremost in mind. To this end, 159 Sri Lankans recruited to train
operators of the newgeneration cranes in Cape Town are being replaced by a group from Thailand, and Transnet has just approved deployment of Sri Lankan trainers for the new planning department. Quizzed on whether the sweeping senior management changes were triggered by the realisation that all was not well within TPT ranks, she agreed that the organisation had not looked at whether the skills were in the right places. She adds TPT tends as a rule to check every few years whether it is “still on course”, what it can do differently, where it is lagging behind and how it can best utilise
particular individual skills. Little has been said about the move of Cape Town Container Terminal business executive, Oscar Borchards, to the new Durban-based TQM and Continuous Improvement division, Damasane stressing once again overall skills. “Oscar has been with the organisation for more than ten years, he is very strong operationally and we cannot lose that sort of excellence. But sometimes one who is strong operationally might not necessarily be strong in other aspects to lead a terminal the size of Cape Town.” Damasane dismissed To page 16
French loan to finance CT terminal expansion
Chris Wells, acting CEO of Transnet, and Agence Française de Développement Group CEO, Jean-Michel Severino, sign a ¤200m loan deal to part-fund Cape Town Container Terminal’s R4.6bn expansion. See story on page 16.
RFA to meet DoT on axle mass issue By Liesl Venter The Road Freight Association (RFA) is set to meet with the Department of Transport next Wednesday (December 9) to discuss the proposed reduction in axle mass loads
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and the prohibition of moving certain goods by road. According to RFA spokesman Gavin Kelly, the meeting has been scheduled with the deputy director general of the DoT. This follows the circulation
of a letter of intent by the DoT in which it proposed a reduction of the permissible axle mass from 9-tons per four wheel axle to 8-tons on the secondary road system. The aim of this, they said, was to move commercial
vehicles onto the primary road network and preserve SA’s secondary network. Huge uproar followed with the RFA gaining support from industry and road organisations alike. Kelly said no further
correspondence had been received from the DoT but the organisation had requested timelines for the proposed implementation of the new proposal as well as clarity on a host of other issues.