'Largest deal with a black
empowerment company'
Terry Hutson
DURBAN-BASED black empowerment shipping line Southern Tankers has been awarded a 5-year contract worth R300 million by the Shell and BP oil companies to handle the oil majors' oil requirements along the Southern African coast.
The contract - the largest single oil industry procurement deal with a black empowerment company - will see Southern Tankers, which was formed last year between Dudula Shipping and the Grindrod Group, procure its first ship, a new US$30 million products tanker from a Korean shipyard.
According to Mike Scott of Shell SA, the oil companies are especially pleased about the contract. "This is a sustainable and meaningful empowerment participation and partnership, not some flimsy paper agreement," he told FTW.
Southern Tankers' Robert Young returned from Korea at the weekend after overseeing the preliminary details for the new 37 000 DWT ship, which he described as state of the art, with every modern refinement and feature.
The as yet unnamed vessel will be used to transport a million tonnes of petroleum products annually along the Southern African coast including to Mozambique and Namibian ports.
Sithembiso Mthethwa, CEO of Dudula, said the contract would make a significant contribution to employment as well as facilitating the development of ship management, seafaring and related skills for some 40 South Africans at sea and on shore, including cadets.
