AfriSam is poised to increase its market share in the Eastern Cape with the opening of a third rail to road depot in the province.

This depot in Markman Industrial, Port Elizabeth will to supplement the company’s existing depots located in East London and Queenstown. The new depot, efficiently serviced via its own rail siding, incorporates a   1000 ton bulk cement silo capacity and a 3600 tonbag holding capacity.

“Historically we’ve enjoyed a very strong presence in the eastern side of this province, supplying  these areas from our Ulco plant in the Northern Cape via the two rail to road depots,” says Grant Neser‚ AfriSam sales and marketing executive. “This allows us to take advantage of the cost effective rail rates down to the depots, allowing AfriSam to focus on the last leg by road.”

Although the company could have serviced the western area of the province directly from Ulco or via East London, after looking at all the options it was found that the most cost effective way to provide the quality service it wants to offer in this area would be with anotherfully-fledged rail to road depot. The 1.8 ha site has been sized to ensure we have a significant amount of bulk capacity to support customers who use bulk cement in the vicinity of Port Elizabeth. At the same time, the company has increased its bulk capacity in both East London and Queenstown to entrench security of supply in the province.

“The establishment of a depot in Port Elizabeth also allows us to provide the level of service expected from a cement supplier of choice. We intend to capture a significant share of the market in the Port Elizabeth area through our commitment to superior quality and service excellence,” Neser says. “This has traditionally been a market dominated by a single supplier and our arrival offers local customers more choice. We’re confident that we will  compete favourably  in this market with our   quality products, a highly responsive sales team, skilled technical support team  and  reliable supply infrastructure.”