The project aims to support Safmarines growth objectives within the shipping industry by providing greater reliability and flexibility to the companys IT infrastructure, at a lower cost. The contract is one of IBM SAs largest ever deals.
 
IBM says that it will provide IT strategy consulting services to help develop and advance Safmarines vision and strategy. Under the agreement, in SA IBM will run Safmarines data centre operations; provide disaster recovery services; manage server, storage as well as desktop systems and also manage some of these services in Belgium.
 
Safmarine and IBM have enjoyed a close business relationship for more than 20 years, and this agreement takes our relationship to a new level, says Ivan Heesom-Green, CEO of Safmarine. IBM will offer Safmarine competitive, on demand IT services through their economies of scale and, as a long-term business partner, provide for our IT solutions of the future, as we continue to expand our core world-wide shipping services.
 
We believe that this agreement will significantly transform Safmarines IT services environment across its global operations, says Mark Harris, MD of IBM SA. We are helping Safmarine to meet the challenge of finding new ways to innovate, increasing responsiveness to clients by providing access to IBMs global transport and logistics intellectual capital and capabilities.
 
Under the agreement, Safmarine will transfer its IT assets and resources to IBM. The transfer includes 159 highly-skilled people currently employed by Safmarine. Implementation of the agreement is subject to approval by the SA Competition Commission.