The South African governmentis not alone in wanting to control short-sea shipping around its coast through cabotage legislation.These plans are contained in the Merchant Shipping Bill of 2023, for which public comment was invited in September 2024, and extended to April 2025.The Bill states: “No ship, other than a South African-owned ship, is permitted to engage in coastwise traffic for the conveyance of goods between ports in SA.” The goods will have to be transported by road, rail, or a shipping line in which the state is expected to have a share or own outright.SA would join 91 other countries with cabotage regulations that restrict or prohibit foreign-owned vessels from transporting passengers and cargo between domestic ports.They include the European Union, Türkiye, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Russia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, South Korea, the United States and China.African countries with cabotage regulations include Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia.The main argument for cabotage regulation is that it supports domestic shipping and air transport. Critics point out that the regulations result in logistics inefficiencies.The Cato Institute has estimated that repealing the Jones Act of 1920, which governs cabotage in the United States, could halve shipping rates. Inefficiencies are a result of protectionism, which protects the domestic shipping monopolies from having to invest in new vessels and equipment. ER
