Safmarine marks 70-year milestone

Seventy years ago,
advertisements and articles
in local newspapers heralded
the arrival of a two-year-old
ship, Constantia, belonging to
South Africa’s newest shipping
company, Safmarine. While
other unsuccessful shipping
ventures had been tried
immediately after World War
2, astute management saw
Safmarine emerge as the local
leader in the maritime sector.
Besides its establishment in
1946 and its acquisition of a
trio of Victory ships, numerous
other highlights feature in
Safmarine’s history. Aided by
the Industrial Development
Corporation, a remarkable
fleet expansion programme
in the 1960s involved the
addition of six reefer ships,
eight fast dry cargo vessels
and four bulkers, enabling
Safmarine to compete
successfully with the best
foreign companies on the
South African trade. It also
had nearly 30 ships flagged
in South Africa and employed
around 2000 seafarers.
Its venture into the
operation of two former
Union-Castle mailships was
a significant public relations
coup. For the first time in the
long history of the UK-South
Africa mail carriage contract,
local interests rightly
controlled a noteworthy slice
of the action. The sad demise
of the mailship service
was a product of advances
in air travel, high costs of
operating the two vessels
that were fuel-thirsty, and
the containerisation of South
African trades.
Entry to the Capesize
bulker market, acquisitions
and construction
programmes kept the
technical department busy,
but containerisation gave
Safmarine new impetus. The
four “Big Whites” became
synonymous with the brand
that was greatly enhanced
when the company’s unique
cursive logo appeared on the
vessels’ white sides.
Trade sanctions detracted
from Safmarine’s success, but
the abolition of apartheid and
the subsequent rapid growth
of trade from 1990 boosted
the company’s success.
To remain competitive
amid changing markets,
Safmarine needed access
to international container
networks, initially purchasing
a Belgian company and
moving its headquarters
to Antwerp. In 1999, the
company was split into
its containership division
and other operations, the
former being sold to the
Copenhagen-based AP Moller
Group (APM), and the latter
– curiously – to the Restis
Group of Greece.
Having been strengthened
by adding new, larger
tonnage, the familiar
containership brand
continues, the only APM
acquisition to retain its
original identity that has
lasted more than 70 years.
CAPTION
Safmarine’s first owned ship, Constantia, arrived in Cape Town on 22 August 1947.
Photograph : Lawhill-De Vries Collection