Billson’s R100m PE boost
Truck company’s new hi-tech dealership set to change face of Deal Party area
BILLSON Trucks in Port Elizabeth has announced a massive R100million investment into a new hi-tech, environmentally friendly truck dealership and related services centre.
This is set to change the face of the city’s Deal Party industrial area.
Plans to develop the state-of-the-art facility were unveiled to Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Danny Jordaan at Billson Trucks’ Burman Road, Deal Party premises yesterday.
Billson Trucks, which has held the UD Trucks franchise in Port Elizabeth since 2001, has now also secured rights to retail Volvo trucks.
It also sells used trucks and provides significant aftermarket services to the trucking industry, which range from 24-hour emergency mechanical repairs to trailer support services.
The company has developed an extensive regional footprint and operates in an area bordered to the northeast, north and west by East London, Graaff-Reinet and Knysna respectively.
It also invests heavily in staff training and upskilling.
Significantly, the company’s aesthetically modern new facility will be located alongside one of the Bay’s busiest main arterial interchanges and at the entrance to Burman Road.
It is expected to not only visually enhance the industrial zone but also serve as a catalyst to rejuvenate the area as a whole.
The facility has been designed by Bay firm Thembela Architects.
Its prime location will give trucks immediate access to the highways leading to Grahamstown and Humansdorp, as well as directly into the Port Elizabeth city centre and other parts of the metro.
The project is undergoing administrative approvals at the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, but is expected to be constructed early next year.
Giving details about the development, company owner Patrick Billson spoke about the Deal Party area where he first opened shop in 1986, saying the new facility would be positioned at “the gateway to Deal Party”.
It would set the tone for one of the Bay’s most established industrial zones.
“This is the kind of facility and development which ultimately gets inherited by the city,” Billson said.
He revealed that the project would create between 100 and 200 temporary jobs during the construction phase, and about 100 permanent jobs when the facility became operational.
It would also create about 400 indirect jobs as a result of the company’s operations around the region.
Billson said the new facility would not only be environmentally friendly and energyefficient, but was also designed around the truck industry and towards increased staff efficiencies.
Welcoming the investment, Jordaan said it was in line with the drive to expand the Bay’s long-standing automotive industry.
Supporting Billson’s calls for establishing a Deal Party business forum which would work towards reviving the industrial hub, Jordaan said linkages could be created between the industrial development zone at Coega and Deal Party.
“We certainly welcome Billson’s investment into Deal Party and the metro, as well as Billson’s efforts in training staff,” Jordaan said.
“This all bodes well towards making our city a city of technical excellence.”