The newly upgraded R290-million composite floating dock, held at the Dormac ship-repair facility at the port of Durban, was officially launched yesterday by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies.
Speaking at the launch, Davies said that the ship and boat manufacturing industry in South Africa had a “great opportunity” to supply and service the sub-Saharan Africa region with working vessels.
“The ship repair industry is estimated at above R1 billion in Durban under normal trading conditions. This is with all docks well maintained and working. The newly upgraded floating dock will go a long way towards meeting the demand for ship repair in South Africa’s busiest harbour,” he added.
Davies pointed out that the value of South Africa’s maritime economy could generate an estimated GDP contribution of R129-R177 billion by 2033, and create 600 000 jobs.
“South Africa is ideally positioned to serve the East-West cargo traffic and the booming African offshore oil and gas industry, through marine manufacturing, which includes ship and rig repair, refurbishment and boatbuilding. Despite this competitive advantage, we currently capture only 1% of the global market of ship repair and refurbishment,” he said.
Dormac MD Chris Sparg said that a “typical dry-docking” could easily entail around 30 000 hours of labour.
“We have seen in Singapore for example that shipyards are massive contributors to employment, skills development and to the country’s GDP. The strong support that the South African government has provided through the provision of incentives to encourage investments of this nature and to stimulate employment and economic growth in the country, is certainly moving the economy towards full scale industrialisation,” he said.
Dormac is a division of Southey Holdings.
