Saiccor - The First 50 Years 5.8 MB - Sappi

The First Fifty Years
Fred Aldred, a bright young chemist, had a close association with
Saiccor until his retirement in the 1980s� From the mid 1960s as a
technical adviser to Lord Kearton, then Chairman of Courtaulds, he
was a powerful figure at Saiccor� Fred would often appear
unannounced in the plant dressed in a tweed sports jacket, with
leather patches on the elbows, and a camera slung around his neck�
He would discuss what he had seen with the local management, and
he certainly knew what he was looking at, and then report back to
Kearton� Oakley Tainton, then MD of Saiccor, would soon know of
anything that displeased Kearton� Thus the relationship between
Aldred and Tainton became strained and the story of an exchange of
telexes between the two is as follows:
Aldred: ‘I will be arriving on the 18 th � ’
Tainton: ‘That will not be convenient as I will be away�’
Aldred: ‘As I am a director, it is not absolutely necessary that you
are there when I visit�’
Tainton: ‘I have instructed the gate guard not to let you in�’
Fred kept in touch with Saiccor’s process, gave advice on expansion
plans, and was quite involved in the development of the flock plant�
When Kearton retired from Courtaulds in 1975 to run British North
Sea Gas, Aldred’s power base disappeared and he ceased to be a force
at Saiccor� He retired to the Lake District in 1982 and died in 1993�
The mission’s objectives were to confirm the timber supply, to
find a suitable site for the mill that had an adequate water supply (at
least 100 000 m 3 /day, according to SAICI), access to a port (for the
product) and to find a local partner�
The mission first called on the local pulp and paper company Sappi,
in Johannesburg, where they received a cool reception� Sappi had
already decided to build a paper mill on the Tugela, and were not
keen to have a competitor for timber� The mission then went to
Durban to consult Mark Bernstein of Campbell Bernstein and Irving
(CBI) on what rivers, other than the Tugela, could supply 100 000
m 3 /day� The choice was either the Mkomazi or Mzimkulu� The
Mkomazi was selected as it was closer to the port of Durban, and of
course closer to the forests in Zululand� A visit to Rattray’s plantations
in Zululand impressed the mission and confirmed all they had heard�
The mission sought and found a local partner, the Industrial
Development Corporation (IDC)� The IDC had been set up in 1940
as a parastatal organisation to help develop industry in South Africa
and had been involved in the formation of such well-known
companies as Sappi, Sasol, Foscor, Safmarine and Masonite�
The mission went back to prepare feasibility studies� SNIA started
the plant design with Dr Alessandro Brunetti, MD of SAICI, heading
6
Fred Aldred of Courtaulds
had a close association
with Saiccor until his
retirement in the 1980s