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Source: IOL
By Craig McKune and Mercury Reporter
South Africa's maritime industry is "slipping through our hands", leading the country toward an economic crisis, the head of the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) has warned.
In comments that have strong significance for Durban, as the country's premier port, Samsa chief executive Tsietsi Mokhele said that "heavy" legislation made it uncompetitive for companies to own South African-registered ships.
This meant the country was losing out on business and job-creation opportunities. Also, the only vessel trading under the South African flag - the 29-year-old Safmarine Oranje - would be decommissioned next year. This meant there would be no ships available to train maritime students, deepening the sector's skills crisis.
Mokhele was speaking to members of the transport and maritime industry and maritime school pupils at a World Maritime Day celebration in Cape Town, on Friday.
It was widely believed the South African maritime industry should support about 300 ships, but legislation meant the sector could not compete internationally, he said.
It was expensive for ships to be registered in South Africa; there was no formal policy around developing skills to support a growing shipping industry; and shipping companies were low on the list to be paid off by bankrupt clients. Legislation around these issues would be tabled in Parliament later this year, Mokhele said.
While maritime schools produced 120 university graduates a year, the country would need more than 10 times that number to support 300 ships, yet the decommissioning of the Oranje meant schooling would only dwindle.
According to Mokhele, the South African economy was heavily reliant on seaborne trade.
Ninety-eight percent of our trade is seaborne, and 50 percent of the country's GDP comes from trade. It is irresponsible for our leadership to not tackle that issue. We are letting our maritime industry slip through our hands."
Offshore support
The Mercury's Durban shipping writer, Terry Hutson, said last night that part of the problem was the absence of a legal and banking structure facilitating local ship ownership in South Africa. Local banks generally do not extend facilities for the purchase of ships - it is far easier for ship owners to borrow offshore.
A number of ship owners had also registered their vessels offshore, for political reasons during sanctions, but had not been properly encouraged to return.
Durban had suffered a major downgrading in naval presence. Only a single small naval patrol vessel operates in Africa's busiest port since the naval base was downgraded to a small naval station a few years ago.
It was significant that, whereas the local industry received little government recognition, the small country of Panama would be officially opening a maritime agency in Durban next month.
Panama, which encouraged maritime industry, had the world's largest ship registry.
Hutson said it was inaccurate to say the decommissioning of the Safmarine Oranje meant there would be no ships available to train maritime students.
The Durban-based Grindrod's Unicorn shipping line and several foreign lines took on local cadets, he said.
Meanwhile, a shipping industry source said Samsa itself had created difficulties in the industry.
A few years back, being out of touch with sector conditions, it had - with good intentions - recruited and trained cadets, while paying them at more than double the average industry pay rate. This had been a pointless exercise.
The acting director-general for transport, George Mahlalela, also called for further investment in the maritime sector.
Speaking at the Cape Town event, Mahlalela said: "We are reaching a level where the capacity we have is no longer enough to grow this sector."
The government should create a maritime environment that provided "sheltered employment" for graduates, Mahlalela said.
By Craig McKune and Mercury Reporter
South Africa's maritime industry is "slipping through our hands", leading the country toward an economic crisis, the head of the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) has warned.
In comments that have strong significance for Durban, as the country's premier port, Samsa chief executive Tsietsi Mokhele said that "heavy" legislation made it uncompetitive for companies to own South African-registered ships.
This meant the country was losing out on business and job-creation opportunities. Also, the only vessel trading under the South African flag - the 29-year-old Safmarine Oranje - would be decommissioned next year. This meant there would be no ships available to train maritime students, deepening the sector's skills crisis.
Mokhele was speaking to members of the transport and maritime industry and maritime school pupils at a World Maritime Day celebration in Cape Town, on Friday.
It was widely believed the South African maritime industry should support about 300 ships, but legislation meant the sector could not compete internationally, he said.
It was expensive for ships to be registered in South Africa; there was no formal policy around developing skills to support a growing shipping industry; and shipping companies were low on the list to be paid off by bankrupt clients. Legislation around these issues would be tabled in Parliament later this year, Mokhele said.
While maritime schools produced 120 university graduates a year, the country would need more than 10 times that number to support 300 ships, yet the decommissioning of the Oranje meant schooling would only dwindle.
According to Mokhele, the South African economy was heavily reliant on seaborne trade.
Ninety-eight percent of our trade is seaborne, and 50 percent of the country's GDP comes from trade. It is irresponsible for our leadership to not tackle that issue. We are letting our maritime industry slip through our hands."
Offshore support
The Mercury's Durban shipping writer, Terry Hutson, said last night that part of the problem was the absence of a legal and banking structure facilitating local ship ownership in South Africa. Local banks generally do not extend facilities for the purchase of ships - it is far easier for ship owners to borrow offshore.
A number of ship owners had also registered their vessels offshore, for political reasons during sanctions, but had not been properly encouraged to return.
Durban had suffered a major downgrading in naval presence. Only a single small naval patrol vessel operates in Africa's busiest port since the naval base was downgraded to a small naval station a few years ago.
It was significant that, whereas the local industry received little government recognition, the small country of Panama would be officially opening a maritime agency in Durban next month.
Panama, which encouraged maritime industry, had the world's largest ship registry.
Hutson said it was inaccurate to say the decommissioning of the Safmarine Oranje meant there would be no ships available to train maritime students.
The Durban-based Grindrod's Unicorn shipping line and several foreign lines took on local cadets, he said.
Meanwhile, a shipping industry source said Samsa itself had created difficulties in the industry.
A few years back, being out of touch with sector conditions, it had - with good intentions - recruited and trained cadets, while paying them at more than double the average industry pay rate. This had been a pointless exercise.
The acting director-general for transport, George Mahlalela, also called for further investment in the maritime sector.
Speaking at the Cape Town event, Mahlalela said: "We are reaching a level where the capacity we have is no longer enough to grow this sector."
The government should create a maritime environment that provided "sheltered employment" for graduates, Mahlalela said.
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