It was a triumph of
centralised government.
Never before or after did
a country co-ordinate
a change to a new mode of
transport as South Africa did on
1 July 1977.
C-Day, as we called it in
the forerunner to FTW,
Containerising News Fortnightly,
saw the simultaneous opening of
the container harbours in Cape
Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth
and the inland port of City Deep.
The simultaneous ceremonies
were the proud achievement of
the then colourful minister of
transport Ben Schoeman.
The co-ordination included the
conversion of f leets of breakbulk
ships operated by the Conference
Lines into a relatively few large
container ships. The Conference
Lines regulated shipping on the
Southern and Eastern Coast
of Africa in agreement with
the government in a deal
that was periodically updated
called the Ocean Freight
Agreement.
This agreement specified that
40% of cargo to and from South
Africa had to be carried in the
hulls of South African-registered
ships.
This fell away with the
reality that no single line could
operate ships this large on its
own. Lines that had a long
history of serving the South
Africa/Europe trade had no
choice but to share vessels under
the banner Southern Africa
Europe Container Service
(SAECS).
The first SAECS containership
arrived on 26 July in Cape Town.
It was Lloyd Triestino’s Africa
on the Mediterranean service.
FTW’s editor at the time
boarded the ship in Cape Town
on her maiden voyage as the
only passenger and we have been
recording the changes wrought
by the ubiquitous box ever since.
Dr Kobus Loubser, general manager of South African Railways and Harbours,
Transport Minister, Louwrens Muller and Ben Schoeman, the previous Minister
of Transport after whom the Cape Town container dock was named pictured
on ‘C’ Day in Cape Town on July 1, 1977. Even the SAR’s critics were impressed
by the co-ordination as three container ports and an inland terminal were all
commissioned simultaneously.
OCL’s Table Bay loading in Zeebrugge on her maiden voyage. She was the first of the
larger containerships to be completed for the SA-Europe Container Service in 1977.
