helen mba _2 - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

5.3 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON THELITERATURE STUDY AND EMPIRICAL FINDINGS5.3.1 Demographics and geographics (Section 1)This section of the questionnaire did not directly contribute to the attainment of theobjectives of the research, but it is valuable to have knowledge of the profile of therespondents as discussed in Chapter four, since these findings will assistintermodal organisations in determining their future strategies. It was noteworthythat the majority of participants were shipping lines, focusing their business on thegeneral segment of the market (see Tables 4.1 and 4.2). An encouraging fact wasthat 64 % of respondents were handling a thousand and more containers permonth in the 11 – 50 kilometer radius. The same number of respondents alsoindicated that the size of customers was not considered when choosing anintermodal transporter, 73 % did not consider the proximity of an intermodaltransporter’s depot, while 64 % indicated that the location of the intermodaltransporter’s office was important.In summary, the following recommendations based on demographics andgeographics can be made:• As the shipping lines are the most important players in the NMMM intermodalindustry, a marketing strategy aimed at the shipping lines is necessary.• Based on the importance attached to the location of the intermodaltransporter’s offices, it would make sense to locate these offices as close aspossible to the shipping lines for ease of delivery of CTO’s. The best locationfor the intermodal transporter’s offices would be in the port area, as close aspossible to the office of the port that receives CTO’s. Only after the port hasprocessed the documentation can the transporter use the CTO for delivery.130