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Mobile operator Cell C has reported improvements in profitability and operational efficiencies during the six months to June 30, 2021, as steady progress is made in the company’s phased turnaround.

With the implementation of a new operating model and network strategy, along with new customers drawn through products and services innovation, Cell C posted R148-million profit before tax for the first half of 2021, a turnaround on the R7.6-billion loss reported in the prior corresponding period.

The improvement is attributed to the significant impairment of network assets in the previous financial year and operational expenditure savings during the current financial year, the latter of which decreased 25% to R1.7-billion year-on-year owing to a reduction in network expenses and administration costs, said Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson.

Cell C’s gross margin declined by 15% and overall direct expenses increased slightly to R3.6-billion during the six months to June 30, 2021.

Earnings before interest and taxes increased to R736-million in the first half of 2021 from a loss of R5.3-billion in the first half of 2020.

Total revenue for the six-month period under review decreased 5% to R6.6-billion, with the largest part of the revenue contribution from Cell C’s prepaid base at R3-billion and a reduction in its postpaid base by 25% to R563-million.

“The contract and broadband revenue decrease is in line with Cell C’s approach to optimise its customer base,” explained Craigie Stevenson.

In line with this, Cell C had entered into a commercial agreement with Comm Equipment Company and Vodacom to improve the overall operational efficiency and returns of managing its 1.6-million postpaid and contract broadband subscriber base.

“Underlying this decision was the opportunity to move away from heavily subsidised devices, which Cell C could not get a return on owing to its network shortfall,” he said, noting that the company will offer products based on customer need rather than driven by the device subsidy.

“Our financial performance has improved, and we are making good progress on the three-year transition to a virtual radio access network, the implementation of our new business model and the introduction of new products to market,” continued Craigie Stevenson.

The company successfully migrated 40% of the network – with four provinces, namely the Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape and Limpopo now fully migrated – with access to 7 500 towers of which 95% are fourth-generation/long-term evolution-enabled.

“We will continue to add new sites which will reduce our network deficit. In two years, we will have access to more than 12 500 sites across the country improving the quality and coverage of our network,” he said.

As Cell C focused on more profitable customers, the average revenue per user was sustained at R66 year-on-year.

The total subscriber base expanded to nearly 13-million during the first half of 2021, up from 11.7-million in the first half of 2020, with its prepaid customer base increasing by 15% to 9.6-million.

“These interim results highlight that Cell C is a stronger business, is generating cash and is more competitive in the market. We are championing value and bridging the digital divide by making Internet access affordable for all, while doing what is best for the customer,” added Cell C CFO Zaf Mahomed.

However, despite improvements in the income statement and being on track to return Cell C to profitability, a recapitalisation is needed to address the debt on the balance sheet.

“A recapitalisation is the final pillar in Cell C’s turnaround strategy and will provide momentum to effectively manage the transition, focus on profitable revenue growth and the overall simplification of the cost base, putting Cell C on the path to long-term sustainability,” he concluded.

Metair warns that the second half of its 2021 financial year will continue to be dominated by the impact of Covid-19, as well as the “severe effect” of global supply-chain disruptions and the global shortage of semi-conductors.

Metair manufactures, assembles, distributes and retails energy storage products and automotive components in Africa, Europe, Turkey, the Middle East and Russia.

In a business update published this week, Metair notes that the third wave of Covid-19 infections and the ten days of civil unrest in South Africa in July all resulted in a difficult start to the second half of the financial year.

Metair says its automotive components vertical is currently supporting the local production of a number of new models and facelift launches.

As its subsidiaries are in pre-production and prototype manufacturing phases for these projects, the company will continue to incur project costs ahead of these model launches.

Also, raw-material shortages (including semi-conductor chips), supply-chain delays and loss of production owing to strike action within the steel and engineering sector, are all having an increasingly negative impact on original equipment manufacturer volumes.

As a result, there is a degree of uncertainty around the short-term production volume outlook for the remainder of the year. (Volume expectations over the model life remain unchanged, however.)

Metair says a potential dip to below 90% of 2019 vehicle production volumes is possible in South Africa this year.

“Increased supply chain costs (both sea and airfreight), manufacturing volatility and volume declines, production disruptions due to the July civil unrest in South Africa and project costs related to the investment in future growth, could all result in profit before interest and tax margins contracting to between 5% and 7% for the full financial year.”

In the energy storage vertical, Metair continues to focus on expanding its automotive battery product range in line with shifting market trends.

Energy costs in Europe and Turkey are, however, rising significantly and may result in operating margin pressure during the fourth quarter of the financial year, owing to the lag in price recovery of these input costs.

“Market demand has remained resilient, in line with the recovery plan, and international demand for lead-acid batteries in all sales channels remains high,” says Metair.

First National Battery continues its strategic shift to a trade-focused model in its industrial manufacturing business to counter the effect of technology, market and demand shifts.

Retention of customers will be the main focus in this business, with a shift to sourcing traded product that is more competitive with a wider range of technology.

This will likely result in R30-million to R40-million in manufacturing closure costs in the second half of the financial year.

Metair notes that its overall capital investment programme has also been impacted by the global supply chain shortages and shipping delays.

A portion of planned capital expenditure for 2021 is, therefore, anticipated to be delayed into 2022.

Li-ion Strategy

Metair says it has reassessed its lithium-ion (li-ion) strategy and taken the decision to move its li-ion production line, currently located in Romania, to its Mutlu Akü subsidiary, in Turkey.

“This move aims to leverage off of Mutlu’s brand strength and operational expertise, as well as its access and positioning within a growing market for li-ion products, and will benefit from recently available incentives that will recover the initial investment.

“The li-ion line will be located within Mutlu’s existing production facilities, and the move is anticipated to be finalised by the second quarter of 2022.”

Metair says its li-ion strategy will continue to be focused purely on 12 V applications for the automotive and industrial segments.

“This approach ensures that Metair transitions to newer technologies without the need to invest in large-scale capital expansio...

Growing constraints on South Africa’s power grid could precipitate a crisis similar to the one experienced in 2008, when it became apparent that the country had run short of generation capacity, the head of a leading domestic renewable-energy company warned on Wednesday.

African Clean Energy Developments (ACED) CEO Richard Gordon told participants to a RES4Africa webinar that South Africa was on track for a “repeat performance” by 2028, owing to inadequate transmission capacity in areas where the best solar and wind resources are located.

ACED, which has developed 1.2 GW of domestic renewables projects, is majority owned by African Infrastructure Investment Managers, a subsidiary of Old Mutual Alternative Investments.

Speaking against the backdrop of another intense period of national load-shedding, which was escalated to Stage 4, Gordon said Eskom was not in the financial position to build the grid capacity needed and also faced serious constraints in securing the servitudes required for new lines.

This crisis, he argued, had to be acknowledged by government at the highest levels and required urgent and decisive action if it was to be remedied.

Gordon dismissed suggestions that the problem should be eased by directing independent power producers (IPPs) away from the best resources to areas of existing grid capacity, arguing that such an intervention would raise costs for consumers and should, thus, be reserved exclusively for just energy transition-related interventions.

Eskom has announced a R178-billion grid infrastructure investment plan for the coming ten years, which is geared largely towards expanding the network to enable the integration of 30 GW of new, mostly renewable, generation capacity.

The plan envisages the roll-out of 8 406 km of new lines over the period, as well as the introduction of 119 large transformers, to introduce 58 970 MVA of transformer capacity.

However, Eskom’s Transmission Development Plan for the period 2022 to 2031 is only partially funded and also faces capacity, skills and land-acquisition headwinds.

The private sector, Gordon argued, could assist in accelerating the roll-out if government would consider grid concessions, which could be transferred back to Eskom after a period of time.

Funding for grid infrastructure could also be raised by adding a “transmission capital charge” for every megawatt bid by renewable IPPs. Such a charge, he said, could add about 10c/kWh to the tariff, but would raise, during each bidding round, about R4-billion, for grid investments.

Eskom was not currently considering transmission concessions or a capital levy but has acknowledged serious grid limitations.

Immediate bottlenecks have already been felt in the Northern Cape during the most recent renewables procurement round, preferred bidders for which are yet to be announced, and there are emerging limitations for subsequent rounds for the Western Cape and Eastern Cape.

Eskom is currently urging IPPs to consider alternative sites and has set up an interactive dashboard on its website, which offers visibility of areas where connection capacity is either available or constrained.

Speaking on the same platform as Gordon, Eskom grid access unit manager Mfundi Songo urged IPPs to consider “network hosting capacity” prior to making any application for grid access, while stating that capacity in the Northern Cape had been depleted.

However, strategic grid planning manager Ronald Marais reported that Eskom was investigating transmission cluster zones and distribution collector networks as a way to release grid capacity in future bidding rounds.

Nevertheless, significant new investments were needed to expand the grid, which he described as the key enabler for integrating higher levels of renewable energy.

As with technologies such as the smartphone and the Uber platform, Marias said renewables could only emerge as a disruptive technology in South Africa if a strong, reliable grid was in place.

“Unless that grid is in...

State-owned electricity utility Eskom has outlined a R178-billion grid investment plan for the coming ten years, which is premised on a dramatic acceleration of expansionary capital expenditure.

The Transmission Development Plan (TDP) for the period 2022 to 2031 is largely geared towards expanding the network to enable the integration of 30 GW of new, mostly renewable, generation capacity.

The capacity will arise largely in the form of solar photovoltaic and onshore wind generators that will be built in areas with limited existing grid infrastructure.

To be implemented, however, the plan will require a step change in the pace at which new transmission lines are built relative to the previous five years, as well as a massive acceleration in the deployment of new transformer capacity.

Presenting the TDP to stakeholders on October 26, group executive for transmission Segomoco Scheppers said that the bulk of the expenditure, or R144-billion, would be spent on network expansion projects.

The plan envisages the roll-out of 8 406 km of new lines over the ten-year period, as well as the introduction of 119 large transformers, to introduce 58 970 MVA of transformer capacity.

Eskom would have to build 2 598 km of new lines and deploy 35 new transformer units between 2022 and 2026, which would represent a 73% increase in line construction relative to what was built in the five years from 2017 to 2021 and a 94% increase in transformer deployments period-on-period.

In the five years to 2021, Eskom managed to introduce new lines at a yearly pace of only 300 km, a pace that would have to accelerate to at least 500 km a year in the coming five-year period to meet the TDP schedule.

It would have to accelerate even faster in the subsequent five years to 2031, during which the TDP envisages 5 800 km of new lines and 84 large new transformer units being introduced, representing a 124% increase in line construction and a 140% increase in transformer units.

Senior manager for grid planning Leslie Naidoo admitted that the figures were both “scary and large”, particularly in light of Eskom’s financial and capacity constraints.

Capital had been secured for the period to 2026 but was yet to be nailed down for the subsequent period.

Servitude acquisition also posed a risk to implementation, as did the weakened state of the domestic supply chain, with both the manufacturing and construction sectors having been negatively affected by Eskom’s previous stop-start investment profile.

Given the urgency of the programme, and its size, the new Eskom Transmission board had established a TDP delivery steering committee to oversee the roll-out, and a programme office had been set up to drive implementation.

While the expansion would seek to unlock capacity in provinces such as the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape – where independent power producers ran into serious capacity constraints during the most recent renewables procurement round – Eskom indicated that the limitations on the grid would not be eased immediately.

Strategic grid planning senior manager Ronald Marais cautioned that capacity remained highly constrained in the country’s best solar and wind resource areas, which were also far from load centres.

Generation investment would, thus, have to be directed to other regions in the interim to create space and time for further transmission development.

However, Eskom was considering various short-term interventions, including through the introduction of battery energy storage in the Northern Cape. Batteries, Marais explained, could offer some relief by creating additional load in the area, while supporting the transmission grid to provide additional export capacity out of the area.

Grid capacity was expected to become available in Mpumalanga, however, as coal stations were decommissioned. The TDP assumes that 14 GW of coal capacity will be shut over the five-year period to 2031.

The plan is also premised on “moderate” yearly demand growth of 2% over the per...

Isuzu Motors South Africa (IMSAf) this week welcomed the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel to its plant in Struandale, Gqeberha.

Patel previously visited Isuzu in 2019, shortly before the announcement that the Japanese manufacturer would invest R1.2-billion into its next-generation bakkie build programme in South Africa, with the vehicle destined for the local and wider sub-Saharan African export markets.

The decision resulted in securing the 1 000 jobs at Isuzu’s operations in Gqeberha and across its national and international dealer network, as well as around 25 000 jobs at IMSAf suppliers across the country.

IMSAf president and CEO Billy Tom updated the ministerial delegation on the progress made on the investment programme, including the required manufacturing plant upgrades to produce the new vehicle, as well as the state of readiness to launch the new Isuzu D-Max bakkie in early 2022.

Next year will also see the launch of Isuzu’s next-generation trucks, all locally assembled in Gqeberha.

Extensive building has taken place over the past two years to ready the production facility for Isuzu’s new light-commercial and heavy-commercial vehicles.

The investment involves significant upgrades to tooling and equipment, as well as the refurbishment of the current assembly line to support an extension in the manufacturing of the current Isuzu models.

“Our focus remains on being able to ensure the sustainability of Isuzu’s operations in South Africa,” said Tom.

“We are committed to transformation and believe that an inclusive economy is the foundation to economic prosperity for all citizens,” he added.

“In September Isuzu announced it had maintained an automotive industry-leading level one in its broad-based black economic empowerment audit for a second consecutive year.”

While no jobs at IMSAf were lost during the pandemic in 2020 as a result of adjusted shifts, four-day work weeks and a salary freeze for management, Tom said he was looking forward to pre-Covid-level economic growth in the country.

In 2019, the automotive industry contributed around 7% to South Africa’s gross domestic product, supporting more than 100 000 jobs.

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) on October 26 officially launched the Corolla Cross production line at its assembly plant in Prospecton, KwaZulu-Natal.

The plant is able to produce 111 Corolla Cross vehicles a day, or about 30 000 units a year, for export to more than 40 countries.

The facility now produces what is Toyota's first hybrid electric vehicle (EV), which is an important step towards a carbon neutral future.

TSAM continues to produce its signature Hilux and Fortuner vehicles at the assembly plant.

TSAM CEO Andrew Kirby noted that the company had spent close to R6.5-billion to establish what is a flexible, high-tech assembly plant.

Witnessing the first Corolla Cross coming off the production line, President Cyril Ramaphosa lauded the new production line, emphasising its significance for the South African economy and the thousands of jobs Toyota supports.

He added that it was significant that South Africa was one of seven global locations chosen for the production of the Corolla Cross.

"This is testament to the skilled, productive workforce and competitive plant at Prospecton."

The new production line added 575 new jobs at the site and 1 200 new jobs in TSAM's supplier base to accommodate the Corolla Cross assembly.

Kirby pointed out that TSAM procures 620 of its component types locally, from 56 suppliers.

Ramaphosa highlighted that TSAM planned to ramp up its projected hybrid vehicle production if the availability of batteries improved.

"This could provide great opportunities in the future for localisation. Localisation and transformation are critical pillars to the Automotive Masterplan and we are working with Toyota to ensure the Corolla Cross is giving practical implementation to both these pillars.

"There are a number of initiatives by Toyota to improve local content and increase the number of new suppliers into South Africa from the global supply chain, as well as using and developing new suppliers locally," he said.

Ramaphosa further noted that the launch of the Corolla Cross hybrid vehicle was an important step in South Africa's path to transforming the automotive manufacturing business into a "green energy success story".

"We have identified three key priorities for climate action: for Eskom to reduce its carbon emissions, for EVs to be produced in South Africa and for the green hydrogen economy to be fast-tracked locally.

"Government published a draft paper for public comment on a roadmap to the production of fully-electric vehicles, which will be taken further based on the discussions with international partners and the local industry," he said.

TSAM plans to invest R2.5-billion in its carbon neutrality efforts, including expanding its current installed solar photovoltaic capacity from 5 MW to 30 MW. It will buy the balance of its power requirements from renewable energy generators by 2028.

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has officially opened multinational specialty pharmaceutical company Aspen’s general anaesthetics production line at its flagship manufacturing site in Gqeberha.

This manufacturing capability will convert Aspen’s Gqeberha facility into one of the largest manufacturing hubs for general anaesthetic products in the world.

The unveiling of the general anaesthetics line follows shortly on the heels of a visit by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year at the start of the production of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine.

Officiating at the opening of Aspen’s facility, Patel said the facility “consolidates the Eastern Cape as the most significant advanced pharmaceutical hub on the African continent and it will create local jobs”.

This is of particular importance, considering that, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, South Africa has experienced significant job losses, with small and the large businesses having faced closures and many having experienced revenue losses.

The start of operations is “timely” as anaesthetics are a class of drug that, among other uses, supports the treatment of Covid-19 patients who are on ventilators in intensive care units.

South Africa has, to date, imported the general anaesthetics needed in our healthcare system and the new production line will provide an important medical product for the local market, assuring security of supply, and the bulk of it will be exported across the world, contributing to global patient support.

Meanwhile, Aspen’s facility is able to produce up to 300-million Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine doses a year at full production. Should all raw materials be available, this figure will be ramped up to 415-million doses by February next year, which Patel cited as an “extraordinary achievement”.

Aspen intends to increase production further to 700-million doses by 2023.

In terms of international trade, however, Patel said the anaesthetic production line will allow South Africa to “bring something to the trading relationship”.

The anaesthetic lab time will immediately start generating business and will likely grow to more than R1.2-billion in yearly turnover by 2027.

Aspen group CEO Stephen Saad said the opening of the general anaesthetics manufacturing line is a “significant milestone” for Aspen as it will serve as a crucial anaesthetics hub for this critical medication.

“This is one of the world’s largest general anaesthetics production lines and it positively positions Aspen’s integrated supply, marketing, and sale of anaesthetics globally,” he commented.

Aspen has invested more than R3-billion in this facility, making it the “single largest investment in the pharmaceutical industry in the country” and aligns with Aspen’s commitment to supporting the industrialisation of South Africa.

Sterile Focus Brands, comprising anaesthetic and thrombosis products, is one of Aspen’s key business segments and contributes 28% of its revenue.

The general anaesthetics production line extends Aspen’s sterile footprint and complements the group’s strategic vision of delivering quality, affordable medicines using high-technology pharmaceutical equipment, contributing to improved health outcomes for patients.

ETG Logistics (ETGL) has announced that it is expanding its product and service offering to the farming and automotive sectors.

ETGL is the logistics vertical of ETG, a global conglomerate with business interests across various industries.

ETGL operates in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Botswana, Tanzania and Kenya, with plans to increase its footprint in east and Southern Africa, among other regions.

ETGL’s new made-in-India VST tillers and tractors range covers tractors from 18.5 hp (13.7 kW) four-wheel drive to 50 hp (37.28 kW), and small farm mechanisation implements like power weeders, power reapers and power tillers ranging from 5 hp (3.7 kW) to 16 hp (11.8 kW).

The range is suited for small and emerging farmers where affordable mechanisation is a key requirement, says ETGL.

For larger, commercial farmers, ETGL now offers the Belarus tractor range, with engine outputs in the 80 hp (59.7 kW) to 450 hp (333.0 kW) range, as well as the Deutz Fahr tractor range, with engine outputs ranging from 55 hp (41.0 kW) to 160 hp (119.3 kW).

ETGL has entered into a joint venture with Aftrade DMCC to import and distribute the tractor range in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, eSwatini, Botswana, Kenya and Uganda.

The manufacturer of Belarus tractors, Minsk Tractor Works, was founded in 1946 and supplies more than 200 tractor models and modifications to more than 150 countries.

“Southern and East Africa is a strategic market for Belarus, and our product range meets the expectations of small, medium and large private farmers,” says Minsk Tractor Works CEO Vitaly Vovk.

“We have been exporting the tractors globally over 75 years and established Belarus Tractor as one of the leading tractor brands globally, therefore, we see no reason why we shouldn’t be represented in East and Southern Africa. We are confident on the performance of our tractors in the region.”

ETGL has also announced the introduction of the TVS range of two-wheel motorcycles, scooters and three-wheel delivery vehicles, from India, with engines ranging in output from 125 cc to 310 cc.

While the motorcycle and scooter range is expected to find acceptance with delivery users, inner city and private aspirational commuters, as well as the agricultural segment, the three-wheelers are aimed at the delivery market.

As a part of their mobility solutions, ETGL has also introduced TGB quad bikes, or all-terrain vehicles, from Taiwan, targeting customers in a range of segments such as farming, security, game reserves and travel and tourism, in addition to private owners purchasing ATVs for leisure purposes.

“The expansion of our product offering will create more opportunities for the group to delve deeper into the Southern and East African farm equipment market, serving a wide range of agricultural customers,” says ETGL CEO Rajeev Saxena.

“The introduction of two-wheeler and three-wheeler products will now also expand our scope of activities into mobility solutions, aligning with our logistics vertical.”

State-owned electricity utility Eskom says its reliability maintenance recovery (RMR) interventions have not yet succeeded in stabilising the performance of its unpredictable coal fleet and that more than a year of ongoing maintenance is needed to address the poor performance of its generation assets.

When Eskom announced the RMR in early 2020, it indicated that it expected that the intervention would help ease, albeit not eliminate, the risk of load-shedding by about October this year.

However, COO Jan Oberholzer reported on Monday that the recovery effort was taking longer than initially envisaged and had also been set back, initially, by the onset of Covid-19 and, more recently, by the hydrogen explosion at Medupi Unit 4 in August, which caused severe damage to the generator, as well as a fire, in September, at the Kendal Unit 1 generator transformer.

“Initially, we believed that 18 months of implementing reliability maintenance would take us to a situation where we could minimize and reduce the risk of load-shedding – we never said that we would eliminate load-shedding.

“However, what has happened with Medupi 4 and Kendal 1 has set us back quite drastically,” Oberholzer said, while restating Eskom’s long-standing position that the country required between 4 000 MW and 6 000 MW of additional capacity to create the space required for Eskom to implement the RMR.

Progress to date has been disappointing, with the energy availability factor (EAF) of the coal fleet having slumped to below 65% for the year-to-date, precipitating periods of load-shedding.

The current EAF is well below Eskom’s 70% target and is also significantly below the 67.9% reported for the same period to the end of September 2020.

As of October 25, Eskom had resorted to 29 days of load-shedding since the start of its financial year on April 1, most of which having been implemented at Stage 2, representing simultaneous rotational cuts of 2 000 MW.

During Eskom’s full financial year to the end of March, 47 days of load-shedding were declared.

The load-shedding prognosis for the rest of the current financial year remained precarious, owing to high levels of unplanned outages and Eskom’s commitment to continue with the RMR.

Oberholzer said the poor performance had been exacerbated by the Medupi and Kendal incidents, which added 1 300 MW to the utility’s long-term unplanned losses, which have averaged above 11 600 MW for the year to date

Breakdowns had typically surged to above 15 000 MW during bouts of load-shedding, as was the case with the most recent cuts in late October.

Unplanned load losses have averaged 23.1% for the year-to-date, against a target of 18%, with partial load losses contributing a whopping 4 612 MW.

Planned maintenance has been sustained at the 9% target level, or above 4 500 MW.

Group executive for transmission Segomoco Scheppers reported that the summer plan had been adjusted for what would be a protracted outage at Medupi Unit 4, where the final incident report was still to be published.

BIG DIESEL DEPENDENCE

The plan pointed to a higher-than-planned dependency on diesel generation to manage the power system this summer.

The utility had already spent R2.44-billion on diesel by October 11 to operate its open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) and was poised to exceed its projection of spending R4.1-billion on the fuel for the year as a whole.

Eskom’s reliance on the OCGTs was unlikely to be sufficient to shield South Africans entirely from load-shedding, however.

In fact, Scheppers cautioned the public to “expect an increased risk of load-shedding while the RMR programme was being implemented”.

“For the most part the System Operator will need to source operating reserves from demand response products, as well as from emergency reserve sources, such as interruptible load-shedding and OCGTs,” Scheppers explained, when delivering a presentation on the ‘summer plan’.

The plan’s base case – which models for ongoing RMR at about the 9% level, as well a...

Daimler Trucks and Buses Southern Africa (DTBSA) has handed over a fleet of 90 Mercedes-Benz Actros 2645LS trucks to Bakers South Africa (SA).

This purchase adds to Bakers’ current fleet of nearly 650 vehicles, which comprises 100% of Mercedes-Benz Truck products.

Mercedes-Benz Trucks, a division of DTBSA, and Bakers SA have enjoyed a more than 40-year partnership, which began when the privately-owned family business bought its first Mercedes-Benz Truck in the early 1970s.

Today, Bakers SA is a specialist in warehousing and distribution across South Africa and into neighbouring countries.

DTBSA has also handed over 43 Fuso Canter light-duty trucks to City Logistics, in Durban.

City Logistics has a national footprint across all major centres and cross-border into Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland.

With a customer base predominantly made up of major retailers and distributors, City Logistics offers services in distribution, line haul, advertising and warehousing.

The newest truck handover marks a milestone in the expansion of City Logistics’ fleet, which has now doubled the volume of Fuso trucks, taking the total fleet of the company to about 1 200 vehicles.