Plans to rescue South Africa's floundering shipbuilding industry were outlined at a presidential maritime imbizo in Durban on Tuesday, 7 April.
The meeting formed part of Operation Phakisa, which is intended to raise the value of the maritime-related segment of the economy from its current R54bn to R117bn. This could lead to up to a million jobs being created.
Topics discussed at the imbizo included refurbishment of ship building, repair and maintenance facilities, collating a registry of South African vessels and establishing a maritime development fund.
The SA Association of Shipbuilders and Repairers' Mike Hawes said that the Transnet National Port Authority had allowed ship manufacturing and repair facilities to degrade over the past 15 years without adequate investment. He said he was encouraged by Operation Phakisa's recognition of the necessity of significant investment.
Transnet has budgeted about R1bn for the upgrading of the facilities over five years.
"We are ambitious but at the same time we want to be careful about how we get back into this space," SA Maritime Safety Authority CEO Tsietsi Mokhele said.
Mokhele said the current infrastructure could no longer meet the demand for its services.
"There is a need to fast-track the maintenance of current capacity while introducing new capacity.
"We know that the big banks have lost their appetite for [investment in] the maritime industry, but we are engaging with them to come to the party."
Source: The Times
