The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) is leading the campaign for the country to increase her flag and also enact Cabotage.
To flag-off the debate, the commander of the country’s maritime administration; (SAMSA) has met with parliamentary transport portfolio committee of the South African legislature, even as the agency is spearheading a national conference on reflagging and Cabotage.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) is leading the campaign for the country to increase her flag and also enact Cabotage.
To flag-off the debate, the commander of the country’s maritime administration; (SAMSA) has met with parliamentary transport portfolio committee of the South African legislature, even as the agency is spearheading a national conference on reflagging and Cabotage.
According to SAMSA’s chief executive; Commander Tsietsi Mokhele, South Africa has no commercial ships on its register, but pays R45 -billion a year in shipping services to foreign ship owners and operators.
He told the parliamentary committee that this was the cost of carrying 264 million tonnes of cargo on ships last year. Having recently attended a meeting of the BRICS countries, he said that while South Africa had to admit to not a single ship flying its flag, the other BRICS members all had large fleets on their respective registers. Brazil had a fleet of 172 merchant ships flying the Brazilian flag; Russia had 1891 ships, India 534 and China 2044.
Telling the committee that 98 percent of South Africa’s foreign trade arrived or left the country by sea, he tabled a document calling for a policy framework that would enable the establishment of both a coastal and an international high seas merchant fleet.
“We’re almost 100 percent dependent on foreign shipping to get our goods to market,” Mokhele said. “All our BRCS partners are regional maritime powers, with vast maritime interests and capabilities in sea trade, commerce and naval influence.”
Mokhele also questioned why South African exporters continued to use FOB (Free on Board) when exporting their products, which ensured that with the point of sale being the port through which the goods were exported, the shipping requirements would invariably be decided by foreign interests at the expense of the South African economy. He said that most commodity-exporting nations used CIF (cost, insurance and freight) for their export transactions with the benefits accruing to the country that nominates the transport.
“We only export up to the export port. That’s where all our trade stands and from there all the way to market is deemed as a risk taken by the other economies. And that’s where we are losing out as a country.” Meanwhile the director-general of the Department of Transport, George Mahlalela said the government is giving consideration to introducing a policy that compels ships that carry cargo between South African ports to be registered locally.
He indicated that Cabotage is one of the levers that the DoT is considering including in a new policy framework for the maritime sector.
Mahlalela said the African Union had in 2008 adopted the African Maritime Transport Charter which aimed at promoting local shipping in Africa. Cabotage was identified as one way of promoting local shipping, he said.
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