Who can believe that we are already two months into 2010! This was the decade that always represented the future for us and here we are in it. More importantly most of our businesses have weathered the largest economic crisis of our time during the 2008/2009 period and although none of us feel that calm seas lie ahead quite yet at least the storm has passed.

It has been a while since our last newsletter but I can assure you that our absence was a reflection of an incredible amount of work taking place at Sturrock Shipping to ensure that we are carefully positioned for the recovery and on track to achieve our Vision in the years to come.

During the storm the company celebrated it’s 40th anniversary and we have taken the moment to roll out a new corporate identity, across all our offices in Sub-Saharan Africa, which represents a fresh and exciting look for the Group. More on this is contained in the articles below and we sincerely hope you like the new branding and image.

Reduced volumes amid the downturn also allowed us to focus strongly on training and development of our personnel to ensure that we maintained the momentum of building an empowered team that is able to consistently deliver complete customer satisfaction. We have not yet attained the levels that we require and this year will be a focus on both quality and customer service.

Our expansion through Africa continues and with Port Sudan now fully operational we have turned to West Africa and are in the process of bringing both Angola and Ghana on stream. These are very challenging environments to operate in but we feel confident that our clients will benefit from and welcome the Sturrock Shipping presence in these new areas with our depth of experience and regional coverage that allows us to service customers in ever increasing African countries.

And last but not least as Africans, South Africans and as the Sturrock Shipping Group we are all excitedly preparing for the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup that kicks off in four months t time across our country. What an event and moment this will be for us all.