Bidfreight Port Operations
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Equipped for success
Bidfreight Port Operations (BPO) is the single-largest leasehold tenant on Maydon Wharf, Durban. “The strategic locations of our warehouses and facilities in the harbour and our control over these assets give us a major competitive advantage in the industry,” says Jannie Roux, Managing Director of BPO.
“Some leases include preferential berthing rights favouring BPO and in consequence our clients. The company receives and despatches cargo by road and rail on a 24/7/365 basis. Many of the warehouses are fed by one or more rail sidings ensuring a smooth flow of operations.”
“In our warehouses we deploy a range of equipment including forklifts, pay loaders and gantry cranes that facilitate the handling of a variety of neo-bulk and bulk commodities. The accurate tallying, receipting and despatching of cargo are managed by high-tech scanning equipment and electronic warehouse management systems. At certain warehouse facilities, we are able to pack bulk cargo into containers.”
Among commodities warehoused by BPO are: forest products; steel; bagged staple foods including rice; bulk and bagged fertilizer; scrap steel; bulk soya bean meal; bagged cement; and containerised bulk including ferrochrome and ferromanganese.
In excess of 2.7-million tons of these commodities pass through the company’s warehouses and storage yards per annum. In addition to its Durban facilities, BPO also has warehouse facilities in Richards Bay.
Roux informs that BPO also operates container handling facilities in the heart of Maydon Wharf, Durban, handling both import and export containers.
“Our depots are strategically placed with optimal access to major roads, rail transport and packing and unpacking facilities. Handling equipment includes gantry cranes and reach-stackers. We are also able to load and discharge ships directly from our depots although because of space restrictions we only do this on a small scale.”
Customer service is a key competitive strength of BPO
“Customer service is hard-wired into our make-up—we are commercially and operationally extremely flexible and a friendly service ethic runs through the company. We also make it our business to understand our customer’s needs inside out. As a result we have developed long-standing relationships with many of our customers, some of which have lasted more than 20 years,” says Roux.
In operation in South African ports since 2004, BPO was formed when two of South Africa’s largest independent portside companies (Rennies Cargo and South African Stevedores) merged to create one of South Africa’s biggest and most significant specialist providers of port warehousing, transport and stevedoring services. With a presence in every private sector port in SA, BPO focuses on facilitating imports and exports in and out of the maritime areas of the country. “The merger gave us the capability to provide integrated port terminal services to our customers in Durban covering the full range of services—shipment consolidation in our warehouses, transport of product to and from ships, as well as stevedoring. There are not many other companies that offer the full range under a single umbrella and it gives us a definite efficiency edge,” contends Roux.
BPO’s parent company is BIDVEST, the international services, trading and distribution group named one of the world’s top 40 companies in the authoritative global rankings published by management consulting firm A T Kearney and BusinessWeek. South African-based Bidvest was ranked 37th in a survey of 2,500 of the world’s largest publicly listed companies. According to Roux Bidvest is an extraordinary organisation. “Although it employs over 100 000 people scattered across four continents it is run on a completely decentralized basis. As a result, at BPO we run our own business. We take our own decisions and we are 100 per cent in charge of our own destiny. There is no one telling us what to do and if we get something wrong there is no one above us to blame.”
At the same time Roux believes that there are huge benefits that accrue to BPO from being part of Bidvest. “Bidvest is a strong brand and an extremely respected company. Particularly when it comes to crucial service areas such as the ones we provide, big companies like dealing with other big companies because they don’t need to doubt our business ethics or that we’ll fulfil our commitments.”
“Also, as part of Bidvest we have access to huge capital resources for expansions and building infrastructure. This means we can plan and implement projects that would be impossible to do on our own.”
BPO’s stevedores (or longshoremen) are stationed at every port in SA, ready and specialised to handle client’s cargo with swift proficiency and uncompromising efficiency. With an exhaustive speciality list, BPO specialise in handling bulk cargoes such as fertiliser, mineral sands, ferro alloys, cement clinker, coal, containers, granite and steel. BPO is well equipped for ad hoc heavy lifts, for instance boats, military vehicles or, as once came through their historic operations, the largest bar of soap in the world! In response to the evolving needs of their clients, BPO also added to its repertoire the loading and unloading of car carriers, implementing rigorous staff training at every new turn. “All of our branches are fully equipped with the necessary bulk handling equipment and all gear is certified, maintained and stored in specialist gear stores,”
Roux reports that market conditions for BPO were good during 2009. “During the recession, the domestic market dropped which means that industrial producers had more capacity to export. On the neo-bulk export side, we actually saw increased volumes in 2009. We also handle a lot of staple food imports. These are more-or-less recession proof because people still have to eat.”
He reports that in the case of higher value goods that typically travel in containers, 2009 was a very poor year. “Although we are seeing a strong recovery now in container volumes, they are not yet back to 2008 levels. However, overall we are positive about the business outlook to the point that we are investing in improvements in warehouse facilities and terminals to increase capacity, because we are expecting a period of sustained growth.”
Community minded
Roux contends that as a major operator in the South African ports and associated industries, BPO has a strong sense of the importance of BEE. To ensure compliance with the criteria as set out by the Department of Trade and Industry Codes of Good Practice, BPO makes use of the Empowerdex rating system and BEE audits are conducted on a yearly basis.
“We are committed to creating a workplace in which individuals who display ability and initiative are given clear opportunities to develop worthwhile careers at all levels regardless of background, race or gender,” he concludes. TAB
bidports.co.za
Bidfreight Port Operations (BPO) is the single-largest leasehold tenant on Maydon Wharf, Durban. “The strategic locations of our warehouses and facilities in the harbour and our control over these assets give us a major competitive advantage in the industry,” says Jannie Roux, Managing Director of BPO.
“Some leases include preferential berthing rights favouring BPO and in consequence our clients. The company receives and despatches cargo by road and rail on a 24/7/365 basis. Many of the warehouses are fed by one or more rail sidings ensuring a smooth flow of operations.”
“In our warehouses we deploy a range of equipment including forklifts, pay loaders and gantry cranes that facilitate the handling of a variety of neo-bulk and bulk commodities. The accurate tallying, receipting and despatching of cargo are managed by high-tech scanning equipment and electronic warehouse management systems. At certain warehouse facilities, we are able to pack bulk cargo into containers.”
Among commodities warehoused by BPO are: forest products; steel; bagged staple foods including rice; bulk and bagged fertilizer; scrap steel; bulk soya bean meal; bagged cement; and containerised bulk including ferrochrome and ferromanganese.
In excess of 2.7-million tons of these commodities pass through the company’s warehouses and storage yards per annum. In addition to its Durban facilities, BPO also has warehouse facilities in Richards Bay.
Roux informs that BPO also operates container handling facilities in the heart of Maydon Wharf, Durban, handling both import and export containers.
“Our depots are strategically placed with optimal access to major roads, rail transport and packing and unpacking facilities. Handling equipment includes gantry cranes and reach-stackers. We are also able to load and discharge ships directly from our depots although because of space restrictions we only do this on a small scale.”
Customer service is a key competitive strength of BPO
“Customer service is hard-wired into our make-up—we are commercially and operationally extremely flexible and a friendly service ethic runs through the company. We also make it our business to understand our customer’s needs inside out. As a result we have developed long-standing relationships with many of our customers, some of which have lasted more than 20 years,” says Roux.
In operation in South African ports since 2004, BPO was formed when two of South Africa’s largest independent portside companies (Rennies Cargo and South African Stevedores) merged to create one of South Africa’s biggest and most significant specialist providers of port warehousing, transport and stevedoring services. With a presence in every private sector port in SA, BPO focuses on facilitating imports and exports in and out of the maritime areas of the country. “The merger gave us the capability to provide integrated port terminal services to our customers in Durban covering the full range of services—shipment consolidation in our warehouses, transport of product to and from ships, as well as stevedoring. There are not many other companies that offer the full range under a single umbrella and it gives us a definite efficiency edge,” contends Roux.
BPO’s parent company is BIDVEST, the international services, trading and distribution group named one of the world’s top 40 companies in the authoritative global rankings published by management consulting firm A T Kearney and BusinessWeek. South African-based Bidvest was ranked 37th in a survey of 2,500 of the world’s largest publicly listed companies. According to Roux Bidvest is an extraordinary organisation. “Although it employs over 100 000 people scattered across four continents it is run on a completely decentralized basis. As a result, at BPO we run our own business. We take our own decisions and we are 100 per cent in charge of our own destiny. There is no one telling us what to do and if we get something wrong there is no one above us to blame.”
At the same time Roux believes that there are huge benefits that accrue to BPO from being part of Bidvest. “Bidvest is a strong brand and an extremely respected company. Particularly when it comes to crucial service areas such as the ones we provide, big companies like dealing with other big companies because they don’t need to doubt our business ethics or that we’ll fulfil our commitments.”
“Also, as part of Bidvest we have access to huge capital resources for expansions and building infrastructure. This means we can plan and implement projects that would be impossible to do on our own.”
BPO’s stevedores (or longshoremen) are stationed at every port in SA, ready and specialised to handle client’s cargo with swift proficiency and uncompromising efficiency. With an exhaustive speciality list, BPO specialise in handling bulk cargoes such as fertiliser, mineral sands, ferro alloys, cement clinker, coal, containers, granite and steel. BPO is well equipped for ad hoc heavy lifts, for instance boats, military vehicles or, as once came through their historic operations, the largest bar of soap in the world! In response to the evolving needs of their clients, BPO also added to its repertoire the loading and unloading of car carriers, implementing rigorous staff training at every new turn. “All of our branches are fully equipped with the necessary bulk handling equipment and all gear is certified, maintained and stored in specialist gear stores,”
Roux reports that market conditions for BPO were good during 2009. “During the recession, the domestic market dropped which means that industrial producers had more capacity to export. On the neo-bulk export side, we actually saw increased volumes in 2009. We also handle a lot of staple food imports. These are more-or-less recession proof because people still have to eat.”
He reports that in the case of higher value goods that typically travel in containers, 2009 was a very poor year. “Although we are seeing a strong recovery now in container volumes, they are not yet back to 2008 levels. However, overall we are positive about the business outlook to the point that we are investing in improvements in warehouse facilities and terminals to increase capacity, because we are expecting a period of sustained growth.”
Community minded
Roux contends that as a major operator in the South African ports and associated industries, BPO has a strong sense of the importance of BEE. To ensure compliance with the criteria as set out by the Department of Trade and Industry Codes of Good Practice, BPO makes use of the Empowerdex rating system and BEE audits are conducted on a yearly basis.
“We are committed to creating a workplace in which individuals who display ability and initiative are given clear opportunities to develop worthwhile careers at all levels regardless of background, race or gender,” he concludes. TAB
bidports.co.za
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