Business at the truck body and trailer-building company Serco has improved in 2021 compared with 2020. But it is still below that achieved in 2019.
This statement is according to Serco CEO Clinton Holcroft. Holcroft said it had been a tremendously challenging time with the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to impact a variety of industries and the South African economy.
Clinton Holcroft says
“Serco used the crisis to focus on driving cost reductions and streamlining processes It also strove to improve service levels while broadening the product range to create growth,” said Holcroft.
Serco is one of South Africa’s leading insulated and dry freight truck body and trailer manufacturing companies with branches in Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Gqeberha.
Serco has been operating 40 years
Holcroft estimates that the company had built more than 20 000 vehicles in its 40-year history. Although the improvement in revenue last year was encouraging, sales were down 30% on 2019.
Broadened product range
“To counter the reduction in sales, we broadened our product range to include more dry freight vehicle bodies. This has given good growth in this sector. We have also increased our fleet of rental refrigerated semi-trailers by 10 vehicles.”
Holcroft said potential customers had delayed orders due to a lack of availability of truck chassis caused by global supply chain shortages.
New trainer body designs
“A highlight of this year has been the development of a new design refrigerated interlink trailer offering improved volume. The new design is easy to use. We have also made design changes to our flagship ’Frostliner’ refrigerated bodies to increase payload and enhance the finish of the panels while raising sustainability standards.”
New technology
“The innovations will offer tangible features which I believe, will encourage customers to upgrade to the new technology”.
There has been a significant reduction in trailer replacements but hopefully, as Covid levels continue to drop and the economy starts to open again, we will see an upswing, similar to trends overseas.
Sustainability a priority
With sustainability and cutting carbon emissions being a global priority, Serco will continue its drive to responsible manufacturing practices and minimise our impact on the environment. In 2019 Serco installed 1029 solar panels on the roof of the Durban factory which allows the premises to go off the grid during the day. The solar power 400kw peak system has the potential to save the company 75% of its electricity costs, equating to a saving of about 900 tons of CO2 a year.
Other greening initiatives include the recycling of paper and plastic it uses as well as a rainwater harvesting system for washing vehicles.
Reforms needed to encourage employment and focus on economic growth
Turning to the South African economy Holcroft said he hoped there would be further structural reforms to encourage growth and employment. Considering the dire need to reduce unemployment, possibly a Ministerial Advisory Committee similar to that used so effectively during Covid could be set up to focus on economic growth for South Africa.
“Serco’s aim for 2022 is to see a return to pre-Covid performance and to build on the positive initiatives we have put in place to generate growth and further value for our customers in the transport and logistics sectors”.
Caption: Clinton Holcroft CEO of Serco (Pty) Ltd
