Tardy, disinterested government delaying offshore progress
SCHEDULED to sail with the season’s first conventional shipment of fruit is the reefer vessel Baltic Spring that arrived last week.
In the meantime, trucks carrying reefer containers, loaded with grapes from the Orange River valley, are arriving at the container terminal that, to its credit, is receiving the shipments around the clock.
Traffic has increased lately with grain ships, and others, including the bulker loading manganese ore, and causing a flutter in the proverbial henhok.
Fresh from her builder’s yard in Germany was an unusual caller, Searoad Mersey II, that bunkered here last Wednesday en route to Australia for the Bass Strait ferry service between Melbourne and Hobart. In keeping with global trends in marine propulsion, her main engines are dual-fuel, using gas oil for manoeuvring in confined waters, but LNG for most of her run between the two Australian ports.
This fancy propulsion system of the 182m vessel did not come cheaply, setting her owners back about R1.4 billion! She can carry 125 truck-trailers and 111 cars.
The more eco-friendly LNG-fuelled propulsion will go down well with the Aussies, who understandably have become very protective of their environment, given the damage to the Great Barrier Reef over the years, from the occasional ship taking a short cut and allegedly from climate change.
Gas is assuming importance in Saldanha Bay, where an offshore LPG import buoy – currently under construction – is due to come into operation in May next year. Curiously, Saldanha was overlooked as a port to receive a gas import facility, yet it is ironic that its import buoy will be operational long before the terminal at either of the other two ports will even be past the planning stage.
In addition, the port authority has developed an offshore supply vessel base as well as plans for facilities for oil rig and related vessel repair.
As I reported last week, a seasoned agent told me that despite the downturn, oil exploration companies are awaiting the finalisation of legislation (including clarity on taxation) pertaining to the offshore oil and gas industry, a step that will provide real incentives for prospecting and production companies operating off the South African coast. Once that legislation has been implemented, they will unleash their survey vessels to hunt for oil and gas beneath local waters.
Significant advantages await these operators if they get busy soon. Amid the energy sector slump that has sent many vessels to lay-up, owners of survey and other offshore vessels will probably seize charters at low rates. The same will apply to owners of drillships and rigs doing follow-up exploratory drilling.
A mini-oil boom here will be a blessing for local engineering concerns, who would be contracted to refit dozens of offshore vessels currently in “warm” or “cold” lay-up in ports and anchorages throughout southern Africa. A rig, such as the one that has been alongside in Ngqura for about six months, would need a refit costing millions of rand before returning to service.
Unfortunately, local repair teams have been depleted as the reduction of work during the recession has driven many skilled artisans abroad. As training is always – and unwisely – among the first casualties in hard times, skilled and experienced shipwrights, fitters, specialist welders and heavy current electricians are in short supply.
A restart of the offshore sector will encounter some challenges, but also be of extensive benefit. But we await the enticement of the government. Like inhibiting delays to other worthwhile projects by a tardy, disinterested government – that is the crunch.