Bumbledom scuppers multi-million rand oil and gas deal

After two and a half years of heavy negotiations with Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), a multi-million rand project proposed by Dutch-based Universal Africa Lines (UAL) has finally been strangled by bureaucratic red tape. The scheme was to develop an oil and gas shipping supply hub at Saldanha Bay to serve the line’s interests up the African west and east coasts. In 2010, when the strategy was first conceived, the line arranged a three-year time charter of the UAL Cape Town – a 12 500-tonne deadweight (dwt) vessel with dual deck cranes and a combined lifting capacity of 160t. This was deployed on a monthly service to supply West African oil and gas exploration and production bases from SA. The service mainly shipped specialist equipment and supplies to the oil and gas exploration and production industries along the West African coast. But, as a conventional carrier, it also shipped a variety of breakbulk and containerised cargo. South Africa, according to Roger Jungblut, chairman of the UAL Alliance and CEO of the SA operation, was the preferred hub for the operation, thanks mainly to it being an increasingly important source of supplies and services to support the “bustling activity in the West African oil theatre” – which produces around five to six million barrels a day, or about 15% of the world’s crude oil supply. Jungblut added that the SA manufacturing, mining, engineering, agricultural, building and construction industries were all in a good position to serve West Africa. But, at about this time last year, and after 16 months of negotiations achieving no result, UAL finally ran out of patience. The attempts to develop this vital hub operation at Saldanha had met with an uncooperative response from TNPA – and UAL cancelled the proposed deal with the port authorities. But TNPA chief executive, Tau Morwe, then became personally involved, and following further discussions, UAL decided to reconsider its decision to withdraw. “We spent another lot of time talking to TNPA,” Jungblut told FTW last Friday, “but they didn’t seem to understand the commercial basis we work on – where timelines have to be fast. “We were so buried in TNPA regulations and procedures we could get no further forward. So the final conclusion two weeks ago was that we were finished with the Saldanha supply base, and we are concentrating now on other projects. INSERT ‘TNPA didn’t seem to understand the commercial basis we work on – where timelines have to be fast.’