9 INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2024 us as an organisation in this time of utter devastation. Once the fire was extinguished, an emergency Board meeting was held in Richards Bay, and “Project Phoenix” and the Mill Rebuild Committees were born. The objective was to rebuild our facilities to be more streamlined and be able to continue to serve our members for decades to come. Much time has been spent on managing the process of the insurance claim, the disassembly of the burnt infrastructure, cleaning of the facility and assessment and planning of what to do and when regarding the reconstruction. We were due to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of our business relationship with Sumitomo and Nippon in October 2023. These festivities were postponed by mutual consent with our customers, given that we would celebrate once our facilities were again up and running. The support from our international wood chip customers was confirmed during our courtesy visits to Singapore and Japan. Naturally, there was much interest and many questions at the International Woodchip Conference as to how the fire had started and what had transpired during the disaster. Following the fire the second half of the year was focussed on trying to manage our resource and member supply to flow via NCT Durban Wood Chips, SAPPI Saiccor and other secondary outlets. The NCT team in Durban really took on the challenge and broke many records including the highest Acacia intake in December 2023 as well as the most tonnes sold through the mill for a Financial Year (achieving just over 640 000 tonnes). This was achieved even in light of Durban experiencing its own black swan event during February 2024 in the form of a fire on the export line. However, our team pulled together and were instrumental in getting the port-owned export equipment replaced and refurbished to prevent any delays in our shipping schedule. Notwithstanding the disaster, NCT managed a turnover of R2.9 billion, marketing a total of 1.7 million tonnes. Unfortunately, because of the large stock write-off due to the fire, the profits were significantly reduced. The balanced approach of paying market leading prices, whilst building reserves has stood us in good stead as our cash reserves have been a lifeline in this period of uncertainty. At Board level, our long-serving board members, Graeme Freese and Micheon Ngubane, retired at the Annual General Meeting in August 2023, and we thank them for their dedication and enthusiastic service over many years. Brian Bhengu and Julia Rees were welcomed onto the Board, and with their expertise and experience, they will add to the strength of our Board and add a novel perspective to our deliberations. In August 2023 I was elected Chairman and took over from Philip Day. We thank Philip for his leadership over the past years. He has led the Board well with his patient demeanour and attentive ear. He has steadied the ship through many challenges and some great achievements over the past years. His experience is however not lost as he was elected Vice Chairman and has accepted the challenge of supporting and mentoring his successor through the stormy waters that lie ahead. Our General Manager, Danny Knoesen, was a pillar of strength through the entire disaster. He led from the front, dealt with every press conference with great finesse, and continues to lead his management team and staff as we tackle the immense challenge of rebuilding the facilities from ground zero. The strength and courage shown by all staff during this time was unmeasurable and we will continue to mine and nurture the amazing talent that is within our organisation. The 75th year of our wonderful existence is on our
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