Cyril’s bunkering blunder

In his nostalgic and sepia-tinged state of the nation address (Sona) on February 8, President Cyril Ramaphosa mentioned something that many might have missed. “With the current conflict in the Middle East affecting shipping traffic through the Suez Canal, SA is well positioned to offer bunkering services for ships that will be rerouted via our shores,” he said.

It was an example of the kind of observation that suggests the president may have been distracted by the view from Fresnaye.

In fact, as Financial Mail reported two weeks ago, the bunkering industry in SA is “dead”, according to Unathi Sonti, chair of the Maritime Business Chamber, a nonprofit organisation seeking sustainability in the maritime industry. Ships forced to pass the Cape as a result of the Red Sea crisis are choosing to fill up in Walvis Bay (Namibia) or Port Louis (Mauritius), with both ports struggling to match demand for bunkering services.

It is entirely self-inflicted. In September 2023, the SA Revenue Service (Sars) detained five bunkering barges in Algoa Bay on suspicion that they had “received fuel from other countries which was then delivered into floating storage facilities. This fuel, according to Sars, was not properly taxed and registered as imports,” Financial Mail reported.

Sars is doing its job — which is to be welcomed — but the urgent calls to have the issues of tax and bunkering swiftly resolved have been dead in the water for more than six months.

And whom did the Maritime Business Chamber ask to intervene to hasten a resolution? The presidency, of course.