helen mba _2 - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

Statements on the advantages and challenges of the intermodal industry werecommunicated to the participants (see Table 4.14). The researcher came to thefollowing conclusions and recommendations.• Good client–service provider relationships are necessary to achieve acompetitive advantage in the intermodal industry. A marketing team would beneeded to enhance the public relations between client and service provider.• Value-for-money service needs to be rendered. Too high a price in acompetitive market such as the intermodal industry would mean a disaster.• The service offered needs to be a client-focused approach or a customer-driven approach, and not an operations approach, as was the case before thederegulation of the intermodal industry.• To achieve a competitive advantage in the intermodal industry, sufficientcapacity, in terms of truck trailers, should be made available. The ratiobetween hauler and trailer needs to be 1:4. With four trailers to one hauleravailable, export containers could be placed at the customer’s premises forpacking, while the same hauler could collect another three containers forplacing with other customers.• The intermodal industry could achieve a competitive advantage with theimprovement of information technology in terms of tracking and tracingcontainer movements.• Training of the labour force can bring about a competitive advantage. In orderfor industries to be globally competitive, it is essential that the workforce have139