Third Eastern Cape depot to increase AfriSam’s market share

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 one in Markman Industrial, Port Elizabeth – to supplement the company’s existing depots located in East London and Queenstown. The new depot, serviced via its own rail siding, incorporates a 1 000-ton bulk cement silo capacity and a 3 600-ton bag 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 two rail to road depots,” Grant Neser‚ AfriSam sales and marketing executive‚ says. “This allows us to take advantage of cost-effective rail rates to the depots, allowing AfriSam to complete the last leg by road.

“Although we could have serviced the western area of the province directly from Ulco or via East London, after looking at all the options we found that the most-cost effective way to provide the quality service we want to offer in this area would be with another fully-fledged rail to road depot. The 1.8-ha site will ensure that we have aqequate bulk capacity to support customers using bulk cement around Port Elizabeth. We’ve also increased our bulk capacity in East London and Queenstown to entrench security of supply in the province.

“Establishing a depot in Port Elizabeth enables us to provide the service levels expected from a cement supplier of choice. We intend to capture a significant share of the market in the Port Elizabeth area through providing 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, reliable supply infrastructure and our highly responsive sales and skilled technical support teams.”

The Port Elizabeth depot supplies AfriSam’s 52,5N High Strength Cement in bulk, as well as bag products that include AfriSam All Purpose Cement and AfriSam Roadstab.

The new depot trades from 07:45 to 16:30 Monday to Thursday and 07:45 to 15:30 on Fridays. Direct product and pricing queries to AfriSam’s dedicated customer care line 0860 141 141.

More information from Maxine Nel, Tel: +27 011 670 5893 / www.afrisam.com

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