South African Business 2022

INTERVIEW Coca-Cola

INTERVIEW Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa – taking transport initiatives to another level Hamish Narsey, Regional Logistics Manager for CCBSA’s Coastal region, outlines his company’s comprehensive approach to transport. Please tell us the scope of your activities? In CCBSA’s Coastal region, we deliver within the KwaZulu- Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces as well as parts of the Western Cape, up to and including Beaufort West. We operate a number of vehicles which includes a combination of truck and trailer sizes. Hamish Narsey BIOGRAPHY Hamish Narsey started his career at CCBSA in 2000. He has progressed through the ranks within the operations environment and has gained vast experience in warehouse and inventory management. He has fulfilled various operational and strategic management roles and is well-travelled through benchmarking among the best Coca-Cola manufacturers and distributors in the United States. He is currently responsible for four sites, two of which are in Durban, one in Gqeberha and one in East London. How many trips are undertaken in an ordinary month? And how was that affected by Covid-19? We take on approximately 4 000 trips per month. Our number of trips remained the same during lockdown, with volumes fluctuating as we transitioned through the different lockdown alert levels and restrictions. How important is road safety to CCBSA? Road safety is essential in maintaining our social licence to trade, and the business therefore embarks on various road safety initiatives. These initiatives include a strong focus on vehicle safety, driver safety, system improvement, compliance as well as monitoring and auditing. We also have the Respect the Road Campaign, which is a road safety campaign that runs twice a year with our heavy motor vehicle and light motor vehicle company users and extends to Owner Drivers and Local Distribution Partners. This is generally run prior to the Easter and December holiday periods, with ongoing awareness throughout the year. In what ways does CCBSA partner with government to promote road safety? Aligned to our focus on system improvement, CCBSA built two driver simulators. The simulator incorporates everyday, real-life challenges faced by drivers on South African roads, such as protest action, changing weather conditions, third-party driver behaviour and adapting driving behaviour to changing road conditions. CCBSA often partners with government on road safety campaigns where the simulator is used. SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2022 60

INTERVIEW As part of our focus on compliance, CCBSA has retained our Road Transport Management System (RTMS) certification and was recertified in July 2021. The benefits of accreditation include improved road infrastructure and road safety, better maintenance management control, improved load accuracy, improved transport productivity and improved social responsibility. The RTMS certification is also a prerequisite for applying to run Performance Based Standards (PBS) trailers in South Africa. What are PBS trailers? PBS trailers are 27.9 metres long and can transport 44 pallets, as compared with the conventional 30-pallet trailer. How does the introduction of a bigger 44-pallet PBS contribute to sustainability? By having more pallets at a time, it means that we have fewer trucks on the road, fewer shipments are transported per annum and fewer kilometres are travelled every year, all of which contributes to a reduction in CO2 emissions. ■