SOUTH AFRICA will require many more 'fair winds' before it can be counted as a true maritime nation of note. That much was evident from the 7th National Maritime Conference in Cape Town last week where the focus fell squarely on impediments facing the country and a message spelling out loud and clear - shape up! Opening the three-day conference, Transport Minister Dullah Omar said the new Ship Registration Act introduced a more open and flexible ship registration regime, one in a range of more favourable fiscal measures to improve investment in the local maritime industry. Having dealt with shortcomings at existing ports, Nigel Pusey, managing director of P&O Nedlloyd SA, said the Coega development in the making was aimed at 2026 - rather than 2006 as was the case with development of Durban - by which time the growth in container volumes was expected to be between 30% and 40%. These volumes would, amongst others, be achieved through the expected growth of the motor industry in the Eastern Cape and other strategic commodities such as the already substantial refrigerated cargo industry showing huge growth potential. Peter Ehrenreich, managing director of Maersk South Africa, stressed the growing importance of e-commerce in shipping, taking a lesson from the United States where 20% of the company's cargo transactions are now handled via the Internet. Dr Dawie Ferreira, Capespan's general manager for logistics, said that in order for the South African fruit industry to remain globally competitive, the supply chain to the export markets "can and must be improved significantly." Harry Mashele, Spoornet's general manager of sales and marketing, said the drive within the Transnet group was to synchronise flows and that collaborative planning between rail and ports was "non negotiable." Spoornet had changed its operational philosophy from a "semi-flexible to less flexible but more predictable service," allowing for a choice between a predictable baseload service, a charter service focused on exports and imports, and a bus service focusing on consolidation customers. Theunis Steyn, a partner in the law firm Deneys Reitz, dealt with prospects created by the new South African Ship Register, pointing out that Belize in Central America had attracted 94 vessels within a year of introducing a tax-friendly, open register. "Ship owners will go where they get the best (for them) regulatory treatment."
