Page 19 - SAPREF 50 year

training. Refinery staff moved into the new office block in May 1962. By July, more than 1000 workers were on site, peaking at 1900 during 1963. There were 5000 applications for the first 150 jobs, with a complement of 215 on-site for start-up.
One of those who remembers the very beginning of SAPREF is Meg MacPherson.
She writes: “I joined the Personnel department at SAPREF in 1963 and at that time the Personnel Manager was Herb Humphreys.
A lot of the initial staff had been deployed from Shell or BP, but most of the management was from Royal Dutch Shell — the Operations Manager was the famous Luc de Boer, who removed one of the coconut palm trees from the Esplanade with his wayward car.
“Early in 1963 the South African trainees returned from their experience in England
and Holland. They were appointed to senior positions at the Isipingo refinery and Basil Beeming was in charge of all the operators. I remember Kees van den Berg, a true Hollander from Royal Dutch Shell, was one of the
At a ceremony on 6 November 1960, the Mayor of Durban, Councillor CA Milne, pressed a button which gave the signal for a team of bulldozers to start work on the refinery site. Watching is Mr WJ Stok, General Manager of SAPREF.
An aerial view of the SAPREF site seen from the north, with the canal under construction, c 1961.
COMMEMORATING 50 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE
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