Ensuring operations at South Africa’s eight ports are effective, efficient and affordable is now the responsibility of Transnet National Ports Authority’s (TNPA) newly appointed Chief Operating Officer, Phyllis Difeto.

She is however is no stranger to dealing with complex business matters.

Tau Morwe, TNPA Chief Executive says, “We are extremely pleased to have been able to appoint Ms. Difeto as COO at TNPA. Her Masters Degrees in Law, Commerce in Maritime Law, and Business Leadership as well as extensive experience at TNPA and at Transnet Group level as General Manager in the Office of the Group Chief Executive, gives her enormous depth of understanding of the maritime industry and the organisation”

She is the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Auditor for the SA Government under the IMO Voluntary Organisation Audit Scheme and has experience as the Secretariat for the SA and Global BRICS Business Councils. Engagements through these two positions provide insight into the international maritime industry and the pressures on ports and port performance as well as the promotion of economic trade, business and investment amongst the business communities of the five BRICS countries.

Difeto was a member of the Government established South African Working Group to review legislation and develop new enabling maritime labour legislation as a process of ratifying the Maritime Labour Convention. She also participated in the Presidential Ocean Lab initiative intended to maximise the economic potential of South Africa’s ocean.

She honed her legal, conflict management and stakeholder relations skills, among many others, while a Senior Commissioner with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) responsible for seven fulltime and 21 part-time commissioners.

She was also appointed by the Minister of Public Works as the Councillor for the South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession and is a director for Global Maritime Legal Solutions.