The Board of Dube TradePort Corporation (DTPC) is pleased to announce the appointment of the new Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hamish Erskine.

The Board Chairperson, Dr. Zanele Bridgette Gasa, gathered the DTPC staff to introduce their new CEO. The atmosphere of anticipation was broken by jubilance at the announcement of the organisation’s acting CEO being appointed as their new CEO.

Following the support by the Provincial Cabinet, the announcement of the appointment by the DTPC Board came today after Mr. Hamish Erskine has been leading the organisation’s operations in an acting role since February 2015.

“A number of crucial processes had to take place in the appointment of our new CEO,” remarked Dr. Gasa in her address to DTPC employees. “After receiving 143 applications, the Board embarked on a meticulous recruitment process which resulted in Hamish Erskine being selected as the most suitable candidate to lead Dube TradePort Corporation.”

“We are grateful to Hamish for his tried and tested leadership over the last 19 months. Although it appears to have be an extended length of time that the organisation has been lead by an acting CEO, there has been no negative impact on the performance of DTPC. In fact, the organization has excelled over the last 19 months and continued to deliver on its mandate.
To highlight just a few achievements secured:

• A clean audit for the fourth consecutive year;
• Achieving 84% of the organisations’ Annual Performance Plan in the 2015/16 year;
• Securing three new international airlines, namely Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Qatar Airways, all within two months;
• A 46% growth in international air passengers between July 2015 and July 2016;
• A 25% growth in international cargo airfreight from January to July 2016;
• Confidence by the dti to designate DTPC as a Special Economic Zone;
• Yangtze Optics Africa Holding’s new R250-million optical fibre manufacturing facility,
with 150 jobs created, 98% of these jobs going to local people;
• SAMSUNG Electronics increasing their footprint at DTPC with an additional R35-million warehouse facility; and
• SA Health’s R150-million condom manufacturing facility creating 145 jobs.”

Hamish Erskine started his career as a public servant in 1996 at the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature as head of the National Council of Provinces Division. In late1998, he then moved to the KwaZulu-Natal Economic Council as Programme Manager where he began working as part of the small team conceptualising Dube TradePort. He continued as part of this team in his role as Special Project Manager at the newly formed Trade and Investment KZN and thereafter joined Dube TradePort on its formation as a Project Executive in 2003.

With over 13 years experience in an executive role at DTPC, Hamish successfully created two of DTPC’s commercial divisions, Dube iConnect and its property investment portfolio. Not only does Hamish have a critical wealth and understanding of the organisation, he has proved his leadership and strategic skills over the last year and a half.

In his new role as the CEO of Dube TradePort Corporation, Hamish Erskine will be responsible for leading the organisation as it grows its investment assets throughout its development zones under the umbrella of both the Special Economic Zones and commercial business zones. Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone is expected to drive the development of new industrial and manufacturing investment as well as agro-industry and processing in Dube AgriZone. This will also expand to include a new Automotive Supply Park in the south of Durban.

In his response to Dr. Gasa’s much-anticipated announcement today, Hamish commented, “My utmost thanks and gratitude to the Board of DTPC, and especially our Chairperson, Dr. Gasa. Your continued guidance and faith in me is the ultimate reason that DTPC has continued so smoothly, and achieved so much in this “acting” period. It is a continual privilege to contribute to an organisation that is geared to fundamentally impact on unemployment, poverty and inequality through new industrial and manufacturing development and providing a world-class operational environment for international and domestic investors. I look forward to continuing to lead Dube TradePort to achieve this strategic vision.”