All Africa articles – Page 34
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Feature
VW opens $30m distribution centre in South Africa
Volkswagen South Africa has opened a R230m ($30.4m) parts distribution centre in Centurian, near Pretoria. At the opening ceremony VW’s management board chairman Martin Winterkorn said the centre would be fully operational before the end of 2010. The new 26,000m2 centre is product of the company’s Strategy 2018 project, which ...
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Pirates release Asian Glory car carrier
The car carrier VC Asian Glory, which was hijacked at the beginning of January by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, has now been released and escorted to Oman by the British military. The release follows the payment of a ransom of unspecified amount though reports indicate that the pirates ...
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Port access important for PSA Vigo model
Logistics considerations are behind PSA Peugeot-Citroën’s decision to build a new mid-range vehicle for emerging markets at its Vigo plant in north-western Spain. The plant is located near the port of Vigo and will ease shipments to developing markets according to the company. The move is part of its strategy ...
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GM Executives on the move
General Motor’s Johnny Saldhana (pictured) has been promoted to vice president, Global Purchasing & Supply Chain – GM International Operations (GMIO), from his position as vice president Global Purchasing & Supply Chain, for Latin America, Africa & Middle East region (LAAM). Saldhana will move to Shanghai, China in his ...
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India's infrastructure push will aid carmakers
The Indian government has announced it is setting up an INR 500 billion ($11 billion) debt fund to address the country’s poor transport infrastructure, including the building of ports, roads and bridges. The news will be welcome to carmakers and their logistics providers in the country, where poor infrastructure contributes ...
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Transnet strike threatens South African carmakers
As the strike action affecting Transnet’s South African logistics network heads toward the end of its second week with no resolution in sight, there are increasing concerns amongst the country’s carmakers that production and logistics will be badly affected. The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and the ...
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Renault to double parts sourcing from India
Renault is planning to more than double shipments of parts from India to its overseas factories, including those in Romania, Turkey and South Africa, with purchasing from the country expected to reach up to €250m ($320m) by 2013, compared with €75m this year. The plans were announced in the Indian ...
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Executives on the move
Toyota Motor Sales USA has appointed Randy Pflughaupt, formerly group vice president for Toyota marketing, as group vice president, sales administration in a role that will involve Toyota Logistics Services. He will succeed Bill Fay who has moved from sales administration to a new position as group vice president. Nancy ...
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Europe flight chaos hits auto sector
Even as airspace is reopened and flights gradually resume following new European guidelines on the levels of volcanic ash safe for aircraft, the fallout from Europe’s worst ever airspace disruption continues to cause transport capacity shortages and thus supply constraints in European automotive factories, particularly at the tier supplier levels, ...
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Daimler wants a total supply chain view
Dr Holger Scherr, head of Worldwide Transport Logistics, wants to bring a change to logistics at Daimler, helping the OEM to better understand logistics across all of its business unitsLogistics is the proof for production strategiesTransport beyond supply-and-demand economicsA step toward cooperationPotential incentive schemes for inbound carriersIn 2009, as Daimler ...
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Gefco moves PSA parts to Russia
Gefco has launched an exclusive rail freight service for Peugeot Citroën between the carmaker’s Vesoul plant in France and the new production facility the French carmaker is setting up with Mitsubishi in Kaluga, Russia. Production at the €470m ($630m) plant is reported to be starting at the end of April. ...
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LSPs recognised in GMSA's supplier awards
Three logistics carriers feature among 20 companies recognised in General Motors South Africa’s 2009 Supplier of the Year awards announced this week at an event held at the new Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. Identified in the logistics category for superior performance over the last year are UTi, ...
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Vehicles in the box come out of the closet
Container growth for smaller volume destinationsA more frequent service Ro-ro vs container: the cost equationMoving vehicles in containers door to doorMoving vehicles by containers is becoming more common for shipping vehicles in lower volumes and higher frequencies, particularly to and from developing markets. But the potential benefit might be farther ...
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Growth brings a sea change for Kia and Glovis
Kia sees changes for its logisticsKia’s export routes and carriers in 2010The dangers of the deep seaAs vessels grow smaller orders are kept waitingKoreans follow Hyundai-KiaFree trade agreements will help KiaIT integration a must as Kia growsAs Kia continues to defy the global downturn, the company is focusing on getting ...
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Will logistics help end a long winter in Eastern Europe?
Sales in Eastern Europe and Russia have generally been decimated, although with manufacturers taking a long view, logistics has a critical role to play in making or breaking the recoveryRussia shores up domestic productionThe headache of getting goods into RussiaDomestic troubles as wellInstability in Central and Eastern EuropeRenault Nissan ties ...
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All these tiny flows
Ro-ro vessels continue to build serviceThe ro-ro alternatives: containers or CKDA rise in premium importsVehicle exports from China have started to rise again, but the volumes are in small batches to underdeveloped markets, making it a tough proposition for major shipping lines and logistics companies. But with imports rising as ...
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Who is the greenest of them all?
The jury is still out on whether or not the automotive logistics sector is really going to make carbon emissions a definable KPI ahead of government regulation. But as Maxine Elkin discovers, companies at least have plenty to talk aboutWe keep being told that carbon management will become a part ...
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Hankook Tire keeps on rolling on
The Korean tyremaker has just had a record year and is looking to extend its reach in both mature and emerging markets, with logistics playing an essential role in maintaining service levels to OEMs and dealersHankook expands production in EuropeGlobal growth in the aftermarket continuesThe logistics network from South KoreaTyre ...
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Ford’s Asian vista
Expanding in Asia Pacific Africa, Ford is growing the smart way with a push toward stronger electronic communication across its supply chain here, including the rollout of its European order-to-delivery system, Vista.Forecasting freight and dutyFlexible manufacturing and supplyBeing the first to build-to-order vehicles in AsiaSupply chain IT: champagne taste, a ...
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Searching for the silver lining
Last year was a devastating one for European ports that depend on car handling. But while recovery is uncertain, Piotr Switalski uncovers the collaborative strategies towards which both ports and policymakers must work (Christopher Ludwig contributed reporting).