The opportunity to join a company with a worldwide presence in 400 locations with 15 000 employees in over 130 countries.
As the Operations Manager you will direct and oversee operations in respect to Freight & Shipping and experience in the industry is non-negotiable. The duties include: overseeing cost management, vendor management and protecting the companies interests and service quality are some of the other key goals/targets. Record and report on a regular basis the operations activities of the Area including meeting the departmental KPI’s.
Function and duties:

To oversee overall Operations department including the execution of the Ops strategy across the Area ensuring strategic initiatives and daily tasks are carried out as directed and completed within company guidelines.
General Tasks and Responsibilities:
• Day to day management and overall responsibility of Vessel / Port terminal Operations.
• Establish effective compliance.
• Ensure and monitor adherence to Standard... Business Process.
• Co-ordinate and steer cost accountability for operational group and agencies in Africa.
• Planning movements of containers, etc.
• Solving operations problems and resolving claims.
• Coaching, training, and mentoring operations staff.
• Dealing with over-dimension cargo.
• Budgeting and controlling costs.
• Negotiate operational costs.
Port/Terminal Operations – Monitoring port operations on a daily basis ensures the work is flowing in accordance with defined processes and analyzing operations identifies opportunities for cost reductions and cost control.
• Arranging Vessel, Port and Cargo Operations in accordance with local rules / regulations and safety/security procedures
• Tracing shipments to assure that all containers load as booked
• Providing Terminal Departure Report to vessel planners after vessel sailing
• Checking information at the terminal and the companies systems against actual documentation and for indications of hazardous cargo
• Providing forecasts to terminals and vessel planners on cargo set to sail
• Preparing, coordinating and supervising transshipment activities
• Making sure vessels are loaded and unloaded in a timely fashion
• Being the initial point of contact for claims, notifying the proper parties of damaged equipment/cargo and arranging for surveys to be conducted
• Preparing hazardous manifests and collecting hazardous dock receipts; hazardous dock receipts are combined with the information contained within the booking
• Maintaining all vessel arrival and departure information as required
• Validating invoices for storage, reefer monitoring and various terminal costs
• Reconciling cargo booked for vessels at cut off dates to avoid imbalances at the terminal
• Arranging and providing cost estimates for special shipments (ie: out-of-gauge, stowage, lashing, securing)
• Solving terminal booking problems, updating systems and assisting customers and drivers with issues
Transport Dispatch/Transshipment – arrange timely and cost efficient transport of containers by rail, truck and feeder vessel to/from locations within an Area of Operation. This is accomplished through:
• Producing fast and accurate documentation/delivery instructions
• Coordinating moves in the most cost effective manner possible
• Booking and arranging transshipments at Area including related tasks
• Creating work orders to and from rail/port for import and export cargo
• Tracing cargo to final destination to ensure prompt delivery
• Researching and resolving issues that occur between the customs broker and the trucking vendors
• Issuing weekly statements to trucking vendors for all work completed and adjusting work orders and statements as needed
• Monitoring trucker and equipment accessibility to determine the availability of one-way transports for cost saving opportunities
• Clarifying invoice and work order discrepancies, and correcting them when needed
• Evaluating carriers performance and issuing service exceptions when needed
• Performing various inland pricing duties (quoting rates, tendering, and other functions)
Equipment Dispatch – ensure customers obtain equipment that meets their shipping needs in a timely manner. This is accomplished through:
• Daily tracking and releasing of equipment for all depots/terminals to ensure accurate inventory records
• Controlling and managing temporary import permits and paperwork before customs authorities
• Creating empty bookings as required
• Repositioning containers that are sold, or for sale, to the buyer
• Planning and steering empty container on vessel, barge and feeder
• Tracking and tracing overdue equipment to ensure faster turn-around and decrease of turn-around times
• Issuing work orders to reposition equipment by rail and/or by truck
• Making sure that all equipment is at the appropriate location
• Controlling costs for positioning equipment and evaluating vendor performance
• Handling inquiries related to equipment releases or inventory availability
• Reviewing gate in, gate out and empty container transport invoices
Maintenance & Repair – ensure sufficient equipment availability of all types to cover budgeted and forecasted bookings, while maintaining the most economical cost. This is accomplished through:
• Making sure that container, chassis, and gensets are in useable condition and repaired to the standards set by the companies
• Monitoring estimates and actual repairs to ensure that guidelines are followed
• Approve repairs or decide to phase out
• Assist on container- and cargo-claims
• Local maintenance and repair cost control
• Verifying and processing equipment repair invoices
• Maintaining and updating online Maintenance and Repair System
• Providing local repair statistics, on request
• Monitoring repair vendors performance
Operations Steering Support – ensure Operations department maintains systems, writing procedures and running statistics as needed. Main responsibilities & tasks are:
• Make sure weekly maintenance and quarterly system updates are accurate and up to date within the Area as it relates to costs
• Provide ad-hoc statistics from all relevant systems to support special analysis for Management and Operations staff
• Quote inland rates to internal departments for standard and special handling of routings and to ensure cost recovery as well as tariff updates
• Create and update rates within online rate system, and coordinate maintenance of vendor hierarchy in organizational catalogues
• Analyze costs and volumes per vendor
• Support vendor evaluations as per the companies quality manuals, and monitor vendor service levels
• Monitor that vendors follow agreed service level as negotiated by procurement
• Verify that all costs incurred are recovered
Qualifications and Technical Job Requirements:
• University degree or equivalent
• 10+ years experience in transportation industry and ship systems
• Comprehensive knowledge of user application systems
• General knowledge of Customer Service and Documentation process
• Container vessel planning, Container Management and Transport Management
• Vendor management experience required
Qualities
• Proven leadership track record and skills to lead and motivate a team
• Shows potential and leadership to take on responsibilities independently
• Enthusiastic with positive morale and good team spirit - leading a team of 50 people or over
• Strong communication skills/will to establish good rapport
• Quick decision making and problem solving skills
• Management of data quality benchmarking PPM and KPI management
Mauritius

Salary Criteria