Cabotage legislation moves closer

The introduction of viable short-sea shipping services on the South African coastline is on track with the introduction of a range of regulatory and other measures. This emerged at the inaugural Ports and Maritime Conference held at The Boardwalk in Port Elizabeth last week. Commander Tsietsi Mokhele, chief executive of the South African Maritime Safety Authority, told the over 350 delegates that legislation was being drafted that would bar any foreign-owned vessel from offering cabotage services between South African ports. The legislation would be extended to cover offshore services within the South African territorial waters. “Coastal trade must be the preserve of the people of South Africa,” he said. He told FTW that the legislation would be published for comment before the end of the year. It was modelled on best practice elsewhere in the world which specifies certain categories of vessel and service. Large dredgers and oil rigs, for example, could be exempt. The implementation would start with the government fleet and state shipping operations. “All project cargo for the government should be moved on South Africanowned vessels,” he said. Measures such as these will provide the base load required by South Africanowned shipping companies. Short sea shipping and addressing the fact that there are no South Africanowned vessels serving the country was one of the underlying themes of the conference. “The Eastern Cape has 800km of coastline with three ports but is currently not optimising its locational advantage to exploit the economic advantage associated with the maritime sector,” Eastern Cape MEC for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mcebisi Jonas said in his keynote address. “Some 80% of global trade takes place on our oceans, with South Africa accounting for approximately a 3% share of that global trade. “Some 200 000 ships pass through South African ports annually, but SA has only one registered ship. “There is a skills demand for 250 000 seafarers globally, yet the country has only 1000 seafarers and trains less than 200 new intakes per year. “We are clearly not taking advantage of our strategic location within the global maritime sector. This must change,” he said. Karl Socikwa, CEO of Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), listed one of the key challenges facing the country as being “poor” global and regional maritime connectivity. Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) chief executive Tau Morwe said South Africa – and Ngqura in particular – had to grasp the opportunity to serve as a transhipment hub for Africa. “If you look at the activities on the east and west coasts, their infrastructure probably does not match South Africa’s and cannot cater for the latest deep-water container vessels,” he said. Mokhele added that Ngqura should become a consolidation point for trade between the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). INSERT ‘Ngqura should become a consolidation point for trade between the BRICS nations.’ CAPTION Tsietsi Mokhele … ‘Coastal trade must be the preserve of the people of South Africa.’