Shipping along South Africa’s coast has increased by 85%, according to maritime sources, because of intensified attacks on the Horn of Africa choke point at the Red Sea and the Suez Canal beyond. Yet the country has still not developed a maritime security strategy to safeguard vessels and its own interests.
While South African ports have capacity, and are operating at about 65% — measured by space and equipment — only 1% of the global ship repair market is in this country and only four of 80 oil rigs in the area have been serviced locally.
A security strategy for South African waters was planned for 2023 and involved several government departments. But it ground to a halt, according to defence force sources. This was in spite of maritime traffic around the country being heavier than it has been for decades.
South Africa lags many West African nations that have recognised the economic potential of a maritime plan of action and the dangers posed by shipping in their territorial waters.
This winter South African sea rescue personnel had their hands full dealing with oil spills and ships in distress. The weather along the Wild Coast, especially, wreaked havoc. It hampered efforts to clean oil spills like the one detected after the MSC Apollo anchored in Algoa Bay before docking at Coega in September.
Various other cargo ships were affected. In August the MSC Antonia lost 46 containers and damaged another 305 off East London. Earlier that month, the Dafibelem lost 99 containers off Richards Bay and in July the Benjamin Franklin lost about 44 containers in the same region on its way from Asia to Europe. The Ultra Galaxy ran aground about 300km north of Cape Town in July. A storm caused the ship to break up into four sections and led to another oil spill.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority and the department of transport’s maritime rescue co-ordination centre have been dealing with the increased traffic and emergencies. The navy, which needs to protect a coastline of about 3,000km as well as merchant shipping in terms of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1951, has long ago lost its blue-water (open ocean) capacity. Most of its vessels lie in harbours awaiting repairs. The air force recently retired its aged fleet of C-47 Dakota maritime patrol aircraft, and there is no realistic prospect of obtaining replacements.
A security strategy for South African waters was planned for 2023 and involved several government departments. But it ground to a halt
The navy says it carries out its maritime mandate together with other government departments on a monthly basis by participating in Operation Phakisa, the state initiative to fast-track critical development issues in the ocean economy.
In the event of an emergency, the maritime rescue co-ordination centre in Cape Town, the national joint operational and intelligence structure of all law enforcement agencies, as well as joint operations within the defence force have procedures in place to respond.
Faced with the unreliable nature of the help that can be expected along South Africa’s coast, and with the country’s ports not able to deliver short turnaround times, two of the world’s biggest shipping lines, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, have agreed to collaborate.
They have made a network of 29 mainline services available, supported by 28 intraregional shuttle services on the western and eastern trade routes. The Gemini co-operation project, agreed to in January, will become operational next February. It will operate a fleet of about 340 vessels with a total capacity of 3.7-million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units, a measure for shipping containers). Large ships are able to transport more than 18,000 TEUs.
Maersk says logistic and maintenance hubs will be established in the ports of Tangiers in Tunisia and those of Damietta and Port Said in Egypt. Once the Red Sea is accessible again, Maersk will leave the Cape in favour of the shorter Suez Canal route to European ports.
Mark Blaine, a retired naval captain and researcher at Stellenbosch University’s Security Institute for Governance & Leadership in Africa, says that if a proper strategy were put in place, the ocean economy could boost GDP by R177bn. This would translate to more than 1-million new jobs.
The popularity of the Cape route can diminish in a heartbeat when the Red Sea opens up again. South Africa should have a cohesive strategy, involving all departments, in place to forge lasting opportunities for its maritime industry even when the routes change again.
Instead, departments continue to chug along separately, without exploiting the present situation as a united front. And the government is not providing any direction.
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