COMPANY PROFILE
2014
Master Trucking
The masters in trucking
company profile
The masters in trucking Editorial: Roland Douglas Production: James Clark
Rustenburg based Master Trucking believe that a satisfied customer is a lifelong investment. To ensure customer satisfaction, the company offers a vast range of services, designed to meet all of transportation needs. General Manager, Stefan Coetzee tells IndustrySA about the ups and downs of the industry and why the company is recognised as an industry leader.
The transportation industry was dealt a difficult hand at the start of the year when the Department of Energy announced a hike in fuel prices. The price of diesel saw a steep rise of around 32 cents per litre and then in February, to the annoyance of the industry and motorists in general, the price was again pushed up by around 24 cents per litre. Obviously, rising fuel prices are not something new; prices around the world have been on an upward trend for many years but even though they are often expected, their impact can be detrimental. When Master Trucking started in business in 1992, the diesel price was low; in some cases lower than R1 per litre. But today the price has rocketed; combine this with the effects of the global economic slowdown of 2008 and you have a challenging business landscape but this expert transportation company has managed to navigate the
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tough conditions by focussing on its core business and sticking to its values. Stefan Coetzee, General Manager at Master Trucking says that the fuel price hikes affect all industries but nevertheless, the company has managed to achieve significant growth since its inception 22 years ago. “At the moment, the transport industry is tough because of the global economic conditions and the strikes in the mining industry,” he says. “Then there is the diesel price; there was an increase at the start of the year and at the start of February. Our fuel price is almost R14 per litre at the moment and I don’t see it going down. It causes a problem not just for us but for all transport companies and all industries. “More expensive fuel makes transport expensive which in turn makes food expensive. Everything gets transported so everything gets expensive.” Stefan and father, Flip, a veteran of the transport
Master Trucking
industry, started the company to develop a one-stop transport coordination service. In 2005, they were joined by BEE partner, Nono Mogasoa who heads up marketing and is a shareholder in Master Trucking. Because of the increase in business, the company has seen fast growth and is now one of South Africa’s most highly reputable asset based logistics providers, servicing South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, and Namibia. “As you gain more contracts, inevitably, you need more trucks hence we have seen growth in our fleet. We now have around 70 trucks and around 250 employees,” Stefan explains.
AT HOME IN MINING A core part of Master Trucking’s business comes from the mining industry and the company has vast experience moving coal and chrome. “We have numerous clients in the mining industry and
they use us to move their products and raw materials,” says Stefan. “We transport a lot of chrome from mines onto the trains and we also truck it over long distances to Richard’s Bay. We also take raw materials from many different locations and get them to factories in Johannesburg. We also transport coal from the coal fields, Richard’s Bay and Durban back towards Rustenburg.” Of course, this and the other activities that Master Trucking undertakes daily, requires a reliable, safe, efficient fleet of vehicles and Stefan says that when new trucks are purchased, they are fully maintained, even when their maintenance contract expires. “We buy new trucks and they come with a maintenance contract so we can service them at any dealership country-wide. We do have our own workshop where we service our older trucks and our trailers.”
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company profile
This is all part of a company-wide drive towards guaranteeing compliance with the stringent regulations put in place by the government and bodies like ISO. “We always ensure that we have all of systems and processes in place as we are audited every year,” he says. “If our systems are out of line, they won’t certify us. “We are capable of handling abnormal loads but of course we stick to all the parameters that are put in place by the government surrounding health and safety.” Backing up the compliance push, all employees are exposed to ISO System coaching and monitoring, admin work and all legal activities, business and risk assessments and truck maintenance. This is part of ongoing development of the workforce, something which Master Trucking, a Level 4 BEE contributor, takes very seriously. “We train our people through a separate company that is part of Master Trucking called Master Training Consultants. This company can also provide training on the mines. We offer basic mine inductions, first aid training and advanced driver training as well. “Another business in our portfolio is Pienaars Rivier Plant Hire, a Level 2 BEE contributor, Black Owned Company and they do plant and equipment hire for local work. Each of the companies has their own identity
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but the form part of the same group and has the same directors,” says Stefan. Along with these two offerings and the local, long distance and cross border haulage, Master Trucking also offers a loading and packing of export containers service to provide a turn-key transport solution for customers.
THE FUTURE As for growth and expansion, Stefan admits that the company is constantly looking for new opportunities but until appropriate chances arise, the company will continue to service its current client base with integrity, efficiency and excellence. “We are always trying to diversify and we will always look for work that we are not currently doing but until we find relevant opportunities we will continue to service our customers to the best of our ability,” he says. “I think there are more than enough opportunities in South Africa and the neighbouring countries. Doing work farther north in Africa can be difficult so we would rather concentrate on what is happening closer to home.” Further down the line, Stefan says he would like to see the company stay in Coetzee family hands but, of course, nothing is certain in business.
Master Trucking “At the moment it’s myself, my brother and my father. I think that this makes things that little bit easier. The plan is to keep the company in the family in the future but you never know what will happen.” The company has the vision to, ‘through innovation, be the preferred service provider in the Southern African transport industry’ and while it continues to show unwavering dedication to staff, provide top-class service to its customers and demonstrate continuous improvement in all areas, it looks set to achieve that vision sooner rather than later.
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“We are always trying to diversify and we will always look for work that we are not currently doing”
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014 596 5862 www.mastertrucking.co.za
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