The Department of Transport (DoT) has reiterated its commitment to launching a state-owned entity (SOE) that will be exclusively responsible for short-sea shipping along South Africa’s coast.
According to Mthunzi Madiya, deputy director general (DDG) for the maritime sector at the DoT, such a shipping line remains an integral part of the government’s port integration ambitions.
Speaking at the National Transport Conference in Midrand on Tuesday, he said taking ownership of cargo moved along the country’s coastline should be seen against the backdrop of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“We are a continent of more than a billion in population. We've got policies in place where we are trying to integrate and harmonise the continent as far as trade is concerned.”
But the policy Madiya is referring to, the Merchant Shipping Bill, was referred back to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) last October.
This was after it was found that the Bill had not been thoroughly scrutinised by Nedlac.
In a presentation to Exporters Western Cape (EWC) ahead of Parliament referring the Bill back to Nedlac, Annelize Crosby, Head of Legal Intelligence at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz), explained that all proposed legislation that could potentially undermine South Africa’s socio-economic environment had to be subjected to rigorous scrutiny by the council.
Apart from Agbiz, the Bill was also challenged by the EWC and the South African Association of Freight Forwarders, who made presentations to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Transport about the Bill's feared impacts on efficient and affordable cargo movement along the coast – without any delays.
More specifically, private-sector stakeholders objected to Section B12 of the 2023 version of the Bill, which will restrict foreign-owned vessels from performing short-sea shipping services along South Africa’s coastline, a function referred to as cabotage.
However, Madiya said the DoT remained focused on getting the Bill passed, and possibly launching what Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has provisionally called the South African Shipping Company (Sasco), responsible for performing local cabotage services.
Such an SOE would also not be exclusive to South Africa, as a shipping line like Sasco could be utilised to perform regional ocean cargo duties, the DDG said.
“We must develop policies and legislations whereby we do not see ourselves as South Africa, as Mozambique, Namibia and so on. It’s a step-by-step process and we need to finalise our coastal shipping project to have regional coastal shipping.”
Madiya added that the cargo volume was there to justify cabotage restrictions on foreign-owned lines, as China on its own brought in enough containers.
He said it did not matter where long-haul vessels called along the wider coastline, as, if the Merchant Shipping Bill was passed, the DoT would have the mandate to proceed with implementing short sea shipping services.
By introducing smaller vessels into the regional system, South Africa could become an ocean cargo integrator for sub-Saharan Africa, Madiya said.
He also speculated that the revenue generated from such a development could enable port development for the country, especially given that South Africa is lagging behind neighbours such as Mozambique in this respect.
“We want to map out the whole coastline of South Africa to see which areas we think are the next target for the great opportunities,” Madiya said.
