Bidfreight

Sustainable development at Bidfreight

Bidfreight’s fundamental conservatism during times of rapid expansion was aimed at building a sustainable business based on quality of service across all sustainability measures, including the triple bottom line. This approach is now paying dividends as our built-in quality wins business from customers increasingly aware of the risks inherent in our industry.

In a hazardous operating environment, Bidfreight works hard to improve safety standards to world-class levels, while leading the industry in the management of environmental impact. HIV/Aids has a significant impact on society as well as our operations. The company is increasing its efforts to respond to this threat.

Material sustainable development issues

• potentially hazardous working environments related to cargo type and equipment in use
• looking after the environment we operate in
• increasing impact of HIV/Aids among the workforce

Management systems and governance

The sustainability issues that confront Bidfreight arise from the hazardous nature of some of the bulk commodities we handle, presenting a threat to the safety of the people involved and to a certain extent the environment. Good governance therefore continues to be a focus area and receives great commitment throughout our businesses.

A divisional risk committee meets every quarter. In addition, most of our businesses have their own risk committees which meet regularly, demonstrating our commitment to risk identification and management.

• Island View Storage uses a number of management systems to ensure regulatory compliance. The company is ISO 9001-certified. ISO14001 re-certification has been completed and will be valid for a further three years. NOSA audits were conducted at all our sites between January and March. IVS Durban regained their five-star rating, Richards Bay retained their five-star rating and Cape Town was awarded a four-star rating
• Bidfreight Port Operations employs safety officers at its various operations and nearly all operations have a NOSA rating. Most have ISO quality ratings
• Rennies Distribution Services uses an in-house safety, health and environmental management system based on the requirements of OHSAS 18001:2007 and ISO 14001:2004.

Broad-based black economic empowerment

The division continues to drive implementation plans and strategies to ensure meaningful progress is made with transformation throughout our businesses. This is evident in the improvements in our scorecards and in the company ratings.

• Bidfreight Intermodal was re-rated as a level 2 contributor, an improvement from its previous level 3 status
• Safcor Panalpina underwent a re-rating, resulting in an elevated status of level 3, up from level 4
• South African Bulk Terminals, Rennies Distribution Services and Bulk Connections were re-rated and maintained their previous ratings
• SACD Freight has been rated under the codes of good practice and attained level 4 contributor status
• Manica Africa’s South African operation was rated for the first time and achieved level 8 contributor status. Plans are underway to improve this rating.

* Updated rating not yet finalised

Safety of operations

Special focus is placed on employee safety. Despite these efforts, Bidfreight suffered four fatalities in the first four months of the 2009 financial year. Fatalities took place in South African Bulk Terminals, Manica Zimbabwe, Bidfreight Port Operations and Bidfreight Intermodal. Three deaths were on site and one was the result of a motor accident.

Following these fatalities, a divisional safety meeting, attended by the managing directors or a senior nominated executive, was convened to reinforce safety practices. In an effort to step up accident prevention, it was decided to review safety procedures and risk management processes and engage in staff re-training.

Most of the businesses have health and safety committees and safety personnel are employed to ensure that all businesses build health and safety measures into their operations.

HIV/Aids

Bidfreight continues to look for ways of improving its HIV/Aids programmes. Most responses to the HIV/Aids challenge are guided by a documented policy. This policy provides for the distribution of ARVs, immune boosters and vitamins at no cost to the employee. All company-run HIV management programmes offer support to staff that are affected by this pandemic and there is an ongoing drive to encourage staff to be tested to ascertain their status. 

Specific initiatives during the financial year include:

Bidfreight Port Operations – Following successful launch of their Aids campaign, awareness among staff has improved. Voluntary HIV / Aids testing remains a priority. To facilitate this, the clinic staff run mini-testing stations on appointed days at each operation.

Manica – In Botswana, HIV / Aids remains a problem and the company supports the government and local NGOs in their efforts to ensure that all people have access to anti-retroviral drugs. In Malawi, HIV/Aids impacts productivity, and the company works hard to reduce the stigma attached to the pandemic. In South Africa, various awareness initiatives are run every year. In Zimbabwe, a proactive programme ensures affected and exposed employees receive free counselling and awareness training. Manica Zambia pays the cost of consultation at government clinics for staff and family members.

Naval – the Aids programmes funded by the World Bank three years ago remains in place. Awareness campaigns and lectures are included in the regular toolbox talks. Both permanent and temporary staff go for free tests, conducted on our premises every fortnight.

SACD Freight – In Durban, all employees, including outsourced labour, have received HIV/Aids training. Some employees have been tested to determine their status. Employees have been made aware of free testing facilities and are encouraged to have tests carried out. One of the SACD JHB employees is undergoing a six-month HIV/AIDs course and will be qualified to host internal HIV/AIDs awareness programmes.

Safcor Panalpina – The company employee support programme offers an easily accessible support structure and on-site counselling. Monthly reports are drawn up by the service provider, updating prevalence rates and reporting on the effectiveness of the programme.

South African Bulk Terminals – The company has an on-site clinic and runs an employee assistance programme to assist employees infected or affected by HIV/Aids.

Rennies Distribution Services – The company’s in-house clinic is run by a full-time sister who makes home visits to HIV-positive employees, counselling employees and family members. The success of this intervention is indicated by the growing number of employees that voluntarily join the programme. Our clinic sister has been elected to the eThekweni trucking sector HIV/Aids forum, where she provides HIV/Aids advice.

Training

Bidfreight is committed to the development of skills and the upliftment of literacy levels to improve the quality of life of our employees while helping the business secure competitive advantage in service delivery. All South African operations conduct training in line with their workplace skills plans. Bidfreight companies have robust learnership programmes in place across a variety of technical and management skills areas. The number of learnerships in the current year is approximately 253, up from 177.

Training and development are vital aspects of maintaining a motivated and competent workforce.  Employees with specific skills and talents are retained through a process of performance evaluations, career planning and incentive schemes. Aside from technical skills training such as freight handling, management focus areas for training programmes include supervisory management, health and safety skills and customer service. We also conduct awareness training for staff, suppliers and contractors, covering environmental legislation, regulations, standards and good practice and the efficient handling of spillages. Basic training/awareness is also provided on the need to save power and cut costs.

Customers

Superior customer service is and has always been of critical importance.  Management instil this into the minds of all staff via various training mechanisms.  Management and dedicated business development and customer services personnel liaise directly with customers to determine satisfaction levels. Issues are addressed with the relevant management team and every attempt is made to resolve problems quickly and to the customer’s satisfaction.

As part of the Excellence Charter at Rennies Distribution Services, business performance is monitored against the expectations of customers. This effort includes, among other things, customer satisfaction surveys, customer complaint resolution and the monitoring of our performance against SLAs.

At Safcor Panalpina, qualified client service teams visit clients regularly. Key accounts are classified into industry verticals and managed by account managers.  A quarterly client service satisfaction survey is undertaken across a random selection of clients. Follow-up assessments are then carried out.

These methods are not universally adopted by all Bidfreight companies. Formal methods of logging customer feedback and company responses still need to be developed at some businesses.