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Not for the Faint-Hearted

Hauling new vehicles across the length and breadth of southern Africa is not for the faint hearted as FleetWatch Cape correspondent Stephanie Platt found out during a chat with David Taylor, MD of Auto Carriers, South Africa's largest transporter of vehicular equipment.

It always amazes me how those cars stay on board the two tier trailers which have become the hallmark of Auto Carriers. How they don't fall off is beyond me. Just looking at those rigs makes one realise that here is a payload with a difference. It's a meticulous operation that requires rigorous attention to detail with no margins for error. And MD David Taylor is well aware of all this.

According to Taylor, the biggest problem in this type of operation is the high value of each load. "Every time a vehicle is touched there is potential damage. As vehicles become larger, space around the cars under load becomes restricted; for example even brushing past a vehicle that is covered in dust can cause damage. Extreme care has to be taken at every stage. Holding interest costs are also high, so customers want to know exactly when to expect delivery, and stock holding at either end must be kept to a minimum."

It is because of all this that Taylor operates this business around four fundamental key principals, and it is this that has successfully carried the company through 44 years of trading.

"Consistent, on-time delivery; quality management; competitive pricing and good communication, both with customers and internally, underpins the company's success," he says.

Taylor, a Chartered Accountant who arrived here from the UK back in the 60's, joined Auto Carriers in 1972 as financial manager. After being appointed as MD and becoming a shareholder in the 70's, he finally bought out his partners in 1990. Humbly declining to be photographed, "I am not the company, my team is", he seems set to lead his company well into the future.

Strange though it may seem, this company whose core business is motor vehicle transport, is based in Cape Town, a city that does not boast a single motor vehicle manufacturer. Taylor explains: "We have always been here in Cape Town and with highly efficient branches in Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, East London, Richards Bay, Durban and Bellville, it is really only necessary to have administration functions at head office. Naturally, technology makes this far easier to accomplish. I prefer to live in Cape Town, even though I have to spend an inordinate amount of time away from home,."

The company does no general freight, with the exception of a contract with Bell Equipment for haulage ex Richards Bay.

African destinations

Apart from South African business, Auto Carriers also has an Export Logistics Division that ferries vehicles to African destinations such as Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It is responsible for transporting DaimlerChrysler's exports to the port of East London and Nissan's to Durban harbour. At these two ports, Auto Carriers also act as stevedores for ro-ro shipping imports and exports to and from South Africa.

Local deliveries, undertaken by road carrier, rail and self-drive are currently done for the likes of Alfa Romeo, BMW, Chrysler, Fiat, Honda, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes Benz, Nissan, Renault, Ssan Yong, and Toyota. All in all some 100 000 vehicles are moved annually.

Driven by the fact that importers and manufacturers are looking for a "seamless supply chain", Auto Carriers has entered into a partnership with Grindrod Logistics. This allows for access to clearing and forwarding, stevedoring and transport.

Also a forerunner in introducing centralised stockholding for its customers, Auto Carriers provides bonded storage stockyards for Renault, Daihatsu, Kia, Lada, Hyundai and Subaru. This provides benefits for these customers such as reduced inventory, centralised pre-delivery and vehicle uplifting, released space at dealership level, reduced inter-dealer exchanges and more consistent standards of quality and presentation.

Altered consumer buying patterns, together with new regulations, has also seen changes in the configuration of their carriers. Legislation allowed for their standard eight-car carrier to be replaced with one that can easily carry 12 small cars. The new carriers have also been made higher so as to accommodate the trend toward multi-purpose vehicles and 4x4's.

Other changes over the years, such as the introduction of two-tier car-trains in 1972 alleviated the need for long-distance convoys. In 1979, sea deliveries were chartered but this was stopped in 1998 as manufacturers demanded speedier deliveries and the coastal vessels were only making the trips weekly.

Owner-driver scheme

Taylor explains more recent developments. "As part of our commitment to the empowerment of previously disadvantaged communities, our owner-driver scheme has been extremely successful. We also wanted to promote our better drivers to become their own businessmen, which is true entrepreneurship. We contracted to Liam Hickey of Driver Entrepreneurs and I attribute that move as a major part of our success".

At present, the owner-driver scheme involves truck tractors only but in future may well include the carriers. About 10% of the fleet is now owner-driver but will increase as part of Auto Carriers long term planning - as long as drivers continue to meet company standards. Taylor's advice to operators considering owner-driver schemes: "Contact Hickey and then go for it."

A joint venture has also been formed with Caiphus Khabana of Five Star Road Transport. This venture combines Auto Carriers management expertise with the added capacity of Five Star. This 50-50 partnership is called Future Auto Carrier Transport.

As to the future, Taylor stresses that the adoption of new developments in technology is essential. One of the most recent has been the introduction of a global positioning system so customers know at any time exactly where their shipment is. This takes standard vehicle tracking to new heights as all consignment information is provided in real-time and is accessible directly by the consignee and consignor.

Auto Carriers is presently the only motor ferry company certified as having met the international ISO 9002 standard for quality management. Having for many years established quality as a foundation for success, this comes as no surprise.