NSS Operations Manager Jeff Weightman has a keen eye for talent.
Jeff has been around Townsville Port for the best part of 37 years and has seen and done most of what they call ‘it all’ on site.
The operations staff work across the two businesses, NSS Port Logistics and NSS Stevedoring on five NSS sites including ports at Weipa, Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Gladstone.
He was proud that logistics was growing quickly in the business and gave credit to his staff for maintaining standards Jeff said.
Common traits among his stevedores include mechanical aptitude and offering to share the burden.
The staff roll-call runs to 200. They’re the ones that shift cargo, load and unload vessels and carrying out deliveries.
Jeff did an electrical apprenticeship in Townsville before working at Peak Downs coal mine, where he topped up his qualifications with an instrument fitters course.
He moved back from Moranbah to start at NSS in 1986 after getting a call from his father, who worked for ANL, about a vacancy.
The big change in that time was enterprise bargaining and the formal development of a safety culture, he said.
“And then the advent, I suppose, of the rapid change in machinery that has resulted in less back and neck injuries.
“A lot of the older machinery that the wharfies used back in the day was heavy and there wasn’t much give in it.
“I remember as I was progressing through, we had a lot of people with back and neck injuries with their early straddle carriers.
The message to staff was ‘capture the revenue’, Jeff said.
“I’m fully confident in the way that they do everything. They handle everything. Their processes and procedures are all very good.
“(My message is) manage your staff, manage your machinery, and capture the revenue. Otherwise, if it’s not going to the bottom line, well we might as well not be doing it.“