Respected Safmarine brand to leave the sea lanes
WHAT a disappointment! The respected 74-year-old Safmarine brand will disappear from the sea lanes.
In 1946, far-sighted folks, aided by Industrial Development Corporation funding, established the company, initially using chartered ships but in August 1947, the first Safmarine-owned ship arrived in Cape Town, followed within weeks by her two sisterships.
In the early 1950s, four ships were added, and despite teething troubles and financial difficulties, the company forged ahead, merging with Springbok Line, and building magnificent new ships in Holland, Japan and Ireland.
By 1970, Safmarine’s 30-ship fleet of owned and managed ships included meticulously maintained multipurpose vessels, reefer ships, tankers, bulkers and two mailships. Amid difficult trading conditions, the company adapted its operating systems, but employed and trained hundreds of South Africans aboard its ships and ashore.
All shipping lines were affected by containerisation that required massive capital investment to build
the sophisticated vessels, to construct thousands of containers and to install world-class computer networks to track them. Some companies were absorbed into consortia, their ships’ familiar nomenclature and livery disappearing forever. Others, like Safmarine, continued operating although, in terms of cargo capacity, one new containership replaced five conventional freighters, requiring fewer seafarers to man the reduced fleet. Advanced automation and the nature of containership operations also reduced office staff numbers and the crew complements aboard the modern ships.
Widely regarded as the finest containerships built at that time, the iconic “Big Whites” – four 2 500-teu containerships that traded between South Africa and Europe – and two smaller containerships plying various routes carried the company’s highly conspicuous ”branding” – the long-standing company logo in cursive script on the sides of their hulls.
Besides its containerships and multipurpose operations, Safmarine had developed a fleet of fine bulkers of all sizes, modern reefer ships, and two powerful salvage tugs. It had also become involved with the Belgian company CMBT, giving it an important foothold in European logistics networks.
With much gusto, and with a seemingly bright future as trade sanctions against South Africa had been abolished, paving the way for real growth in trade, Safmarine celebrated its golden jubilee in 1996, and enjoyed the presence of president Mandela as its guest of honour at the main celebratory dinner in Cape Town.
However, within two years of that halcyon waypoint in the company’s history, it seemed that the company had lost its propeller and had dropped its rudder. Something went wrong and soon local and foreign shipping folks were astonished to hear that Safmarine was for sale.
While accountants may have been correct in suggesting that the company’s containership operation could not survive on its own, the same could not be said for the bulk division that included reefer operations and several important shareholdings.
Although the bulker markets experienced tough times in the wake of the Asian economic crisis, the bulk division should have been retained – as even a few bulkers could be managed effectively. Durban-based Grindrod, for example, weathered a difficult passage and, from about 1999, boomed with record profits.
To facilitate the sale that some felt was hasty, Safmarine was divided into two “lots” – the container division that went to the AP Moller Group (Maersk) while the bulk division was bought for a relative song by a Greek company.
Troubling some shipping folks was that both buyers were foreign companies and that the prominent jewels in South Africa’s maritime crown had been sold abroad. Profits would not be repatriated to South Africa, but instead go to foreign accounts.
Perhaps one day, we will learn why a local company did not purchase Safmarine’s bulker operation.
The wisdom of the sale should have received closer scrutiny by the government, but, like their predecessors, the relatively new government at the time took little interest in shipping, a characteristic that sadly continues.
Despite assurances to the contrary, the Greek company reduced its South African involvement, and, apart from a few senior officers, South African seafarers were not re-employed after completing their contract periods. Following the earlier transfer of the crewing and technical office from Cape Town to Singapore, effectively stopping the employment of South African ratings, Maersk announced last year that South African cadets and junior officers would not be employed, ending a cadet officer training programme that had begun in 1947.
The introduction of cabotage has been aired often. Now, with foreign companies earning virtually all the revenue from moving South African cargoes while, with some notable and noble exceptions, ploughing little back into the country, it’s time to plan a cabotage system for greater South African involvement in shipping to be implemented over the next decade.
This vital and urgent task is not for loyal cadres looking for a quick buck, but for those with wide experience in this highly complex and competitive international industry where only the competent will survive.
Such experience will be found among successful, energetic and visionary shipping practitioners and seasoned salts. |
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