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15
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
AUGUST
2015
ENVIRONMENT
Based at the N4 Gateway Industrial
Park, east of Pretoria, Container
Agents – which will next year
celebrate its 10th anniversary – is a
member of Master Builders Association North,
with its director, Charl Venter, the current
president of MBA North.
José Frazao, MD of Container Agents, says
the company has come a long way since it
was founded in 2006. "The company's growth
was given major impetus during SA's staging
of the FIFA 2010 World Cup for which we
supplied storage containers for all the new
northern stadia building sites.
We currently have a stock of over 1 100
pre-used shipping containers, in an unusually
diverse range of sizes. Our units are 3 m, 6 m,
and 12 m long, and 2,4 m wide and 2,4 m high.
But we also stock the relatively rare 'high
cube containers' – which are 2,8 m tall – for
rental or sale," he stated.
Container Agents focuses on rental busi-
ness in an area of within 350 km of Pretoria
with about 80% of its customers active in
the construction industry. "The containers
are generally used for storage of building
materials on site or for standard or execu-
tive offices, for which we can do a standard
conversion, but could also convert according
to customers' requirements, with fittings
such as specific air vents or air-conditioning,
windows and doors, partitions, ablutions
(some with showers), and even corporate
colours and logos added if required."
Container Agents' conversion of
containers also produce 'structures' such as
Meeting the need for
STORAGESPACE
Pretoria building contractors, J.C. van der Linde
& Venter Building Projects' ongoing need to rent
storage containers on its building sites led to the
company's decision to establish Container Agents,
one of South Africa's fastest-growing container
rental and sale companies.
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spaza shops, guard houses, laboratories (with
special chemical-resistant floors), classrooms,
sheds some with floors, and even mobile
bachelor studios, also with floors.
Willie Mouton, GM of Container Agents,
says a potential major growth area is for
the provision of containers converted into
top-end sanitary facilities, including toilets,
showers and wash basins. "This will enable
the renter to add men and women's toilets
to the container storage space and container
offices he or she already hires from us. It is
now compulsory to provide separate male
and female ablution blocks on building
sites so the demand from contractors
for containers with ablution facilities is
increasing all the time. For customers who
prefer the normal chemical toilets for workers
on site, Container Agents offer these through
a joint venture with Coastal Tool Hire,"
Mouton stated.
Container Agents has a fleet of four
crane trucks to deliver both rented and sold
containers. The company also owns a
special container-handling forklift to assist
customers at the company's yard in
Donkerhoek, Pretoria.
The company can also supply containers
to other African countries and arrange trans-
port from the nearest harbour to selected
building sites.
Container Agents has a special container handling forklift truck, pictured here moving a massive 12 m
unit.
INSET:
Containers are vital site storage components for the South African building industry.