The SA Institute of Marine Engineers and Naval Architects has called for a re-examination of private sector participation to address the current floating dock dock impasse The answer, according to the institute, is for TNPA to consider re-entry into a public/private agreement with the repair industry, which has offered to repair, upgrade and administer the docks on a common-user basis. This follows a project over two years ago when TNPA was trying to concession off eight ship repair facilities to private sector operators – the Durban floating dock; the Durban Prince Edward graving dock; the Cape Town Sturrock dry dock, Robinson dry dock and Cape Town synchrolift; the East London Princess Elizabeth dry dock; the Port Elizabeth slipway; and the Mossel Bay slipway. TNPA invited interested parties to submit requests for proposals (RFPs) to become the operator or operators of these existing ship repair facilities – with preference to be given to broadbased black economic empowerment (BBBEE)-compliant companies. According to Deane, a combine of EB&H, Dormac and Channel Shipping was formed to put together a proposal for the Durban and East London facilities, with another group in Cape Town targeting the southern coast facilities. “Docks are very expensive things to run,” he added, “so we spent a lot of time and money putting together a model of our scheme. “But eventually we received a communication from TNPA CE, Tau Morwe, that they were not going ahead with the scheme.” This was confirmed to FTW by Nico Walters, TNPA GM for strategy, who was responsible at the outset for the concessioning scheme. “The whole project was discontinued,” he said, but was unable to say why. However, he was able to add that there was currently no similar scheme in the pipeline for the Durban floating dock. Its future, therefore, remains unresolved.
