One of the parks will be located in the industrial development zone of East London, home of DaimlerChrysler, and the other in Durban, where Toyota SA is located. The area earmarked for the Durban supplier park is part of ACSA's site near the Durban airport.

The Durban area already has an important and growing "cluster" of automotive suppliers without the new logistics park. This is the result of synergies between Toyota's expansion programme and Durban-based suppliers. The automotive cluster, which was established as a formal organisation in 2001, has grown from 22 members to 42, with 16 000 employees. Members include Toyota SA, Smiths' Manufacturing, Hesto Harnesses, GUD Filters, Federal Mogul, Behr, Aunde and Dunlop.

Members enjoy benefits such as cost savings through shared services and facilities. They are also involved in black economic empowerment (BEE) initiatives by "twinning" black-owned businesses with big firms.

The first automotive supplier park was built in Rosslyn, north of Pretoria, to serve Nissan, Fiat and BMW in Rosslyn and the Ford Motor Company in Silverton, east of Pretoria. A second park, the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistics Park, is under construction in Uitenhage at a cost of R394-million. It is situated adjacent to Volkswagen's plan and will also service Port Elizabeth-based General Motors SA.

The Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC) and its international partners have been involved in the development of the first two parks and have established a partnership with Toyota SA, but the East London park is not part of the AIDC initiative.

In a further development, a R45-million container yard is being established by Mediterranean Shipping in the Mandela Bay Logistics Park in UItenhage. The company is still negotiating with potential customers for its new facility. Mediterranean Shipping already has a container facility at the Rosslyn supplier park to provide shipping services to BMW South Africa.