NOSIPHO DAMASANE has been appointed South African Port Operations (SAPO) General Manager for East London and Port Elizabeth. While SAPO has one other female general manager heading marketing, Damasane is the first women to take up a general manager's position at an operational level and be responsible for the efficient and profitable running of the organisation’s three terminals in the Eastern Cape. “This is challenging and I enjoy a challenge," says Damasane, who has had to prove herself in an acting GM position since June this year in what is typically a male-dominated industry. Armed with a B.Com Accounting degree and extensive experience in the auditing and accounting world as well as business related to the port, she joined Portnet in 1998 as a Port Manager responsible for the East London port. Subsequent to her appointment Damasane attended port management courses in Singapore and Rotterdam as well as a Logistics Management course in Singapore. She has also visited the ports in Florida, and Germany for benchmarking purposes. When, in 2000, Portnet divisionalised into the National Ports Authority of South Africa and South African Port Operations, Damasane was appointed as a Business Unit Manager for the Multi-Purpose Terminal in East London. In June 2002, she became Acting General Manager for the East London and Port Elizabeth terminals, representing the first woman in the organisation to be appointed to a position in operations at this level. Under Damasane’s guidance, over the past three years the East London Multi-Purpose Terminal has become a thriving and profitable sector, playing a major role in underpinning the economy of the Eastern Cape region. Now she is turning her attention to the Port of Port Elizabeth. In the past six months, as acting general manager, she has started to implement structural changes. These include combining terminals for greater efficiency and introducing projects that she is confident will turn the profitability of the terminals around. "Although in an acting position, I saw this as a key opportunity. I thought - if I was appointed that would be good and if not, then who ever was could drive these projects forward," she said. The restructuring of senior management undertaken early on in the year was an important step for SAPO, said Damasane, as it allows general managers to focus their attention on port operations within a particular region rather than being responsible for terminals around the country. "Once one can take a strategic look at ones terminals in provincial context then it becomes clearer how to move the terminals forward," she said. For Damasane, the Eastern Cape's strategy to be an automotive hub in line with the Motor Industries Development Programme (MIDP), informs the strategy for the East London and the Port Elizabeth terminals, which is to strengthen and expand their bases for the import and export of components and fully built-up vehicles. Damasane does not underestimate the challenge the development of Coega, on her doorstep, poses to the continued viability of her terminals. But she believes that the automotive industry will remain with the port of PE, it being the clean port.