Partridge promoted to Toll South Africa MD post

by Press Release on 2012-11-12 23:27:07

Toll Global Forwarding (TGF) has promoted Geoff Partridge to the post of Managing Director of its South African operation. He was previously Operations Director, and replaces Vincent Magnus who is retiring at the end of 2012 after 23 years heading the business.

Partridge and Magnus were co-founders of the business in 1989, when it was launched as Clover Cargo. In 1995, Brian Wicht joined the partnership, establishing the company’s Western Cape operation. In 2010 Toll acquired a majority shareholding, purchasing the remaining shares in 2011.

The business was originally launched with six staff, but has now become one of the country’s top ten multi-modal forwarders, with locations in the country’s four major freight centres and 325 staff (including four of the original six).

TGF South Africa has broadened its activities to include international forwarding, import Customs broking, supply chain services and export forwarding. It has six bases, situated in Johannesburg (head office, airport, and a logistics facility), Cape Town, Durban and Port Elisabeth.

Says Partridge: “I am delighted to take over from Vince at this exciting time. South Africa is well-positioned as a base for opening in other key African countries such as Kenya and Ghana, that can then feed our global network. Africa has huge growth potential and we will use South Africa as a springboard to tap into this.”

Geoff Partridge reports to TGF’s EMEA Managing Director Hakan Bicil, who adds: “Vince has done an impressive job of leading this business from humble origins to become a major name in the country. We wish him every happiness in his well-deserved retirement, and we now look forward to supporting Geoff as he takes the business to the next level.”

About Toll Group:
The Toll business was founded by Albert Toll in 1888. Commencing his transporting company in Newcastle (two hours north of Sydney NSW Australia), Albert and his team began by hauling coal. The business grew and then expanded into diversified mining and manufacturing industries.

The growth of the business in the 1960's led to Toll commencing international freight forwarding services. Our involvement in this sector of the supply chain was prior to the introduction of sea containers and wide bodied aircraft.

In 1986 Toll was sold to a management buyout team, led by current Managing Director Paul Little and Toll's first Chairman Peter Rowsthorn. Toll was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in 1993 and has been a high-performing growth share from this time.

Since listing on the ASX, Toll has progressively built and grown its unique logistics model in response to increasing customer demand for a complete end-to-end logistics solution. These solutions incorporate the critical components of operational expertise, scale, diversity of services and technology capabilities.

Toll Global Forwarding (TGF) is one of the Toll Group’s fastest-growing divisions. Following a string of acquisitions, TGF now has offices in 75 locations across Asia, Australasia, the USA, Canada, the Indian subcontinent and Africa.