Lizelle van der Berg , director , GCCA Africa .

Renier du Preez , CEO : Digistics .

Christopher Nulliah , chief logistics officer of Etlin

International .

The purpose of the session was to share experiences and see what lessons have been learned and what can in future be implemented should anything like that ever arise again .

Lizelle van der Berg , director , GCCA Africa opened the panel discussion : “ Security in South Africa has become one of the major risks for companies in South Africa . The General Risk & Insurance Seminar hosted by the Global Cold Chain Alliance was initiated by the GCCA Africa Risk Management Committee with content covering major risk topics . It is great to see the industry working together on mutual challenges and that we have formed a community which did not exist four years ago – we have come a long way in a short time .”

De Mendonca posed the questions :

Q : What was your first reaction when you realised what was taking place ? “ Our first reaction was disbelief ,” said Du Preez . “ We always had a plan catering to the potential loss of a single DC , and the realisation now was that this contingency plan we had in place for just such a situation was first going to be tested as something we had to get stuck into and get through – but there was also the fear it might be more than one DC , as our Johannesburg DC was also at real risk . The biggest pressure point was the need to keep the customer top of mind throughout the process .”

Q : How did your company communicate with employees ? Nulliah described the scene : “ Luckily mobile phones still worked when it came to evacuating our staff and trying to get some control over the site . Once the staff were

off site , we set up an SMS and WhatsApp group . When it was safe , we called meetings with the police and property security because the area was still volatile for a long time in Hammarsdale .”

Some of the businesses reported having formal communication channels with their offices in Johannesburg or Cape Town which took care of communication with staff as well as customers and large suppliers .

Q : Were there any outside companies you could contact for assistance at this time of crisis ? “ We needed to clean up our premises and get waste off site ,” noted Sanday , “ But couldn ’ t find a company able to help . We eventually located one based in Dubai that operates a business in South Africa . On top of that , our own people often used their personal vehicles to take away waste to a landfill site we found still open and operating on a skeleton staff . Cleaning up was the biggest challenge initially , along with replacing damaged and stolen equipment . For instance , we needed to replace computer equipment which has been destroyed when the building burned – and many local IT suppliers were themselves destroyed or looted .

“ We sent various teams around the city to source computer equipment and many people wouldn ’ t let those teams into their various business precincts . Those were the important lessons we learned : to both work closer with local communities as part of our emergency plan ; as well as to establish back up service providers in our vertical supply chain in case in future our primary service providers were in the same crisis as ourselves .”

Q : What do you wish you had done differently ? The panel agreed that given the scale of the catastrophe , few contingency plans could really have prevented the looting – but things could have been done differently post the event .

Nulliah emphasised the need as far as possible to not lose control of the site . “ The moment you lose control of the site it becomes a free-for-all for everybody . Precautions should include minimally reducing visibility from the outside – because there are often people on the

outside observing the premises . In fact , we were aware of the threat a week before through our security provider and got in additional armed security . Even that wasn ’ t sufficient to deal with the 80 or so people that invaded our premises come nightfall . We now have armed guards at the entrances to each of our locations and have generally upgraded security and communication . Other sites quantified the scale of infiltration as “ hundreds or even a thousand ”.

“ We debated whether to put armed guards on site ,” said Du Preez , “ and decided it might be perceived negatively among public and our customers to have shooting at people for stealing food when they are hungry . We opted not to have armed guards on site , who may be put into the position of having to use their weapons to defend their lives . In terms of handling the situation once people had entered our DC , one lesson we learned from the crisis was to pour palm oil on the floor of our premises and in such ways make it more difficult for them to get the product out of our store . I also would have wished with hindsight we had maintained closer communication with our core suppliers .”

Sanday recommended that new warehouses being built in the future do so in boomed off business parks away from the local community , and that “ Everybody in the park uses the same security as this gives improved access to facilities like riot control

The panel of three .

and sealing off the entire area to keep rioters at a further distance .”

Q : How did the insurance process go ? The consensus was that insurance worked well and they simply followed the usual process – but claims had to be submitted early . “ If you were in the first 10 % you were guaranteed early pay out ,” said Du Preez . “ We received 100 % of our claim quite quickly , though it has since cost us in an increase of our annual premium . I think people who got their claims in later may have had a wait .”

Sanday said his company managed their claim themselves through a broker who dealt directly with assessors – to the value of about half a billion rand . “ We had most of our claim formulated while the building was still burning . For anyone buying insurance at the moment , it costs several times what it did a year ago . Furthermore , some local

The biggest pressure point was the need to keep the customer top of mind throughout the process .