REGIONAL NEWS
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
A mega move for Barloworld Transport Solutions IN A MOVE to expand its services within the specialised transport solutions sector, Barloworld Transport Solutions (BWTS) has acquired TCS Logistics, a transport company that moves abnormal loads for clients into and around sub-Saharan Africa. Neil Henderson, CEO of BWTS, says: “The acquisition is a good fit. It aligns with our strategy to offer clients a wide range of smart, reputable and reliable transport solutions in Southern Africa. It expands our services and capabilities in this specialised area. There are many synergies within our businesses and we look forward to leveraging these to enhance our services to clients into Africa.’’ TCS will fall under the specialised business unit of BWTS, which is led by Andrew Nicholson. Rogan Brent, the MD of TCS, and Jason Christie, the operations director of TCS, will continue to head up this business. TCS was formed 16 years ago and has the skills, experience, regulatory requirements and a large fleet configuration with the capacity to move a maximum payload of 90 t. TCS has depots in Durban, Johannesburg, Harare and Lusaka. BWTS incorporates the Manline, Manline Energy and Timber24 brands and is part of Barloworld Logistics. It has a fleet of over 800 vehicles, employs 1 700 people and has more than 30 depots across Southern Africa. TCS will be rebranded Manline Mega to build on the strong cross-border footprint, expertise and brand presence that Manline already has in the market. Brent says: “Our team is highly experienced in planning, loading and delivering machinery, specialised equipment and project cargo. This is a competitive space with great growth opportunities for us. Joining the BWTS group is an exciting development for our business and our client base. We From left Rogan Brent, MD of Manline look forward to Mega, and Neil Henderson, CEO of Barloworld Transport Solutions, shake hands working and sharafter signing the deal ing best practices with our new colleagues to create more flexible, optimised and sustainable transport solutions for a wide variety of customers and sectors.”
SOUTH AFRICA
Pedal safe branded trucks ANDERSON TRANSPORT is taking the Safe Cycling campaign – a safe passing distance of 1.5 m between vehicles and cyclists – quite literally on the road. The company has branded three trucks with the safe cycling campaign to increase public awareness. Heimer Anderson, managing director of Anderson Transport, says: “We support this campaign launched by the Pedal Power Association, and as a cyclist myself, I hope this campaign will contribute to safer roads for all cyclists.” The three branded trucks will annually cover a combined distance of approximately 600 000 km throughout Southern Africa.
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TWA | Jul/Aug 2013
SOUTH AFRICA
A million kilometres and still going strong
OPERATING A successful transport operation is never easy. It takes a cunning business sense, careful planning and a keen eye for opportunities to make a success of any transport business. And Honey Lotus Farms, a transport operator situated just outside of Nigel in Gauteng, is certainly such a business. Operating mainly as a commodity transporter, Honey Lotus Farms is owned by Richard Burns. The company currently has a fleet of 40 trucks, with ambitious plans to expand its operations exponentially over the medium term. One of the stalwarts of the company’s fleet, a 2008 UD Trucks 440 6x4 truck tractor recently crossed the million kilometre mark without experiencing any major problems. Burns says: “The truck still has all its original parts and it simply keeps on going. During this time the truck has moved over 92 000 t of freight and generated more than R10.3 million in revenue. This UD
certainly keeps on producing a great return on investment.” Burns’ partner in the business is Elfie Mgidi, who was also coincidentally the vehicle’s first driver. Mgidi adds: “According to our company’s replacement policy, we should already have replaced this UD 440 some time ago, but it just keeps going without giving any real problems.” The company’s vehicles that are still under warranty are serviced by UD Trucks Middelburg, while the older vehicles are serviced on-site at the company’s workshop. Willie Linde, dealer principal at UD Trucks Middelburg, states: “It is just a pleasure to work with a company like Honey Lotus Farms, which has such a high level of professionalism and expertise. “We are very proud to be associated with a company of Honey Lotus Farms’ calibre and are looking forward to maintaining a long and successful partnership with them.”
Liz Robbins, projects and marketingg officer for the Pedal Power Association, says: “I would like to thank Anderson Transport for its support of our 1.5 m campaign. We posted a photograph of the truck with the branding on our Facebook page and received a great response. We really do need more companies like this to increase safety awareness of cyclists, which can ultimately save lives.”