Maritime sector contributes to job creation effort

The Maritime Skills Development Study, in partnership with the Human Resource Development Council South Africa, will help to highlight the skills gap within the broader maritime sector and to provide further insights on pivotal interventions needed by the industry.

"We value the partnerships forged with private international companies to assist with cadets deployment but we also need to remind South Africans about the economic value that will be brought should we have our very own human capital to quantify for the employment opportunities on the business shore," said SAMSA CEO, Commander Tsietsi Mokhele.

The study, which is also supported by Department of Transport, calls on training institutions, government and the private sector to work together in ensuring that South Africans are armed with skills to be able to participate in the maritime sector, bridging of the existing skills gap.

It provides for measures that will be put in place to promote growth and development in the five sub-sectors in the Maritime industry: shipping; marine resources; marine tourism and leisure; marine manufacturing and construction; commercial support and business services and public interests.

Currently in South Africa, the ports and shipping sub-sectors are the biggest employers in the sector but this is to the exclusion of the other sectors that have been identified by the study.