INDUSTRY body the Container Transport Alliance of Australia has welcomed the appointment of Glen Hilton as the new chief executive and managing director of DP World Australia.
CTAA director Neil Chambers, a persistent critic of DPWA in recent years, said it was “refreshing that DP World has chosen a CEO with extensive stevedore terminal management experience”.
“This bodes well for the new DPWA management structure under Glen having a full appreciation of the landside interface issues needing to be addressed,” Mr Chambers said.
“Glen will be inheriting an organisation which is levying the largest landside infrastructure charges of any of its stevedoring competitors. It’s imperative that investments and operational relationships are strengthened to demonstrate a renewed commitment to improving the landside interfaces.”
Mr Chambers said the fact DP World (Dubai) had taken a majority financial stake-hold in the Australian operations was positive.
“From his time managing the container terminal in Adelaide in the early 2000’s, through to his most recent role as CEO of the Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia, Glen will fully appreciate that quayside operations, the terminal container stack and the landside receival and delivery operations need to work in harmony to be truly effective,” he said.
“We look forward to DPWA having a renewed focus on landside transport operators as true ‘customers’ of the stevedore.”
Mr Chambers has in recent times argued against infrastructure fees imposed by DPWA on landside transport operators, something the stevedore justified on grounds of paying higher rents and for better equipment.
