As part of a drive to create a sustainable shipping industry, the Department of Transport (DoT) is pushing for more South African-flagged ships. Dumisani Ntuli, acting deputy director general for maritime at the DoT, said considering that South Africa’s trade was 98% dependent on the sea it made shipping a significant player in the national economy. “South Africa has adopted the Comprehensive Maritime Transport Policy (CMTP) which, among others, aims to develop South Africa to become an International National Maritime Centre by 2030. The painful reality however is that all South Africa’s imports and exports are carried by foreign vessels, thus making South Africa an insignificant player in this area in shipping,” he said at a recent International Bunker Association Conference. “South Africa is rolling out a two-pronged strategy which on one side is aimed at the revitalisation of shipping in the country. This strategy centres on one side at the promotion of SADC-wide coastal shipping networks, and on the other, promoting shipping exports on the back of South African ships into Africa. In this context, South Africa’s membership of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) remains an active one. We are host to the Sub-regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, a member of the IMO Council, and, most importantly, we are the host of the IMO 2020 World Maritime Day Parallel event.” Ntuli emphasised South Africa’s commitment to the IMO and its initiatives – including the new regulation on low sulphur fuel. “South Africa is a party to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (Marpol) in its entirety,” he said, indicating that South Africa would enforce the new sulphur cap regulation on vessels entering its waters. “When the clock strikes 12 midnight on the date, ships entering our waters would know very well that they are entering waters of an Annex VI party and would therefore be expected to be fully compliant.” Ntuli said, in this new marine fuel economy, South Africa was taking a long-term perspective and this was partly informed by the fact that the energy sector in the country was facing a major transformation phase from the point of view of infrastructure and supply.
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