Energy efficiency was the buzz word at a recent Safmarine and Cape Times sponsored breakfast. The speaker was Alec Erwin, Minister of Public Enterprises, who in a nutshell said a downgrading by Moody’s is a concern, the health of Eskom’s balance sheet remains critical, and Eskom is looking for funds locally and internationally for a long term build programme which includes nuclear power stations. This figure is R343 billion over the next five years and 1,3 trillian rand by 2026. As a result all consumers can expect to pay double for electricity in the next two years so you would be well advised to factor this in to your budgets.

Efficiency at the container terminals is also Transnet Port Terminals’ target, not just at the ports of Durban and Cape Town, but elsewhere too. The arrival of new capital equipment - massive Liebherr Super Post-Panamax cranes in Cape Town and an automated gate system at Durban’s Pier 1 - should help TPT to achieve this goal.

As this issue went to print the news broke that the first non-commercial ship was expected to dock and offload cargo at the port of Ngqura on 12 September. VIP invitations were issued to view the docking of the ship reportedly carrying transformers for Eskom’s Dedisa power station located in the Coega industrial development zone. This historic maritime occasion was not the official opening of the port of Ngqura - this event is scheduled to take place in October next year.

It is welcome news to hear that Parliament has agreed to allow members of the public accounts committee (Scopa) access to a series of confidential documents related to the arms deal (see page 5). An update is that President Thabo Mbeki, addressing a presidential parade as part of the first navy presidential fleet review in Simon’s Town, said the navy’s new frigates and submarines were “obtained honestly, based solely on the decisions of national government and informed only by the defence review and the imperative to build a national defence force that would discharge the responsibility prescribed by our constitution.”
The prompt and efficient action of a whole host of companies involved in averting the grounding of the bulk carrier, Nena J offshore Gansbaai (and a potential environmental catastrophe) earlier this month, must be recognised. Despite some tense high seas drama, engineers were eventually able to restart the engine and she was towed into Table Bay harbour for repair.

It is however inexcusable when inefficiency impacts negatively on the tourism industry. Examples are the new Robben Island ferry which was attached because of an unpaid debt; and the US nuclear aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is likely to bypass Cape Town because the application to the Nuclear Regulator has not been lodged in time. It probably has as much economic clout as the Queen Mary 2 which happily will be paying port calls to Cape Town and Durban in March 2010.

A final word about our new maritime policy - stakeholders will be pleased that a two-month reprieve has been granted before they have to make their final comments about the Department of Transport (DoT) draft of its new maritime policy. So if you have anything to say, 27 October is the date – don’t miss the boat.

Editor
 

Cover Story

SMIT Marine South Africa recently had to find a creative marine salvage solution to an interesting problem when two fishing vessels – Weskus I and Seawin Sapphire - ran aground near Derdesteen, south of Melkbosstrand, at the end of July. The scope of work included removing all possible pollutants from both vessels; identifying, removing, preserving and transporting plants growing on the environmentally-sensitive dunes to a temporary storage facility in Melkbosstrand where they were maintained until they could be replanted once the dunes had been reinstated; and removing the vessels from the beach. The Seawin Sapphire (pictured here) was moved up the beach towards the parking lot in a controlled manner utilising a strand jack pulley system. During the operation, the vessel was moved approximately one metre every seven minutes. This took two days, afterwhich the vessel was lifted onto a flat bed trailer utilising a gantry system and transported by road to the synchrolift in Cape Town.