Londiwe Ngcobo is making waves in maritime

At just 29 Londiwe Ngcobo is ensuring South Africa complies with its international Safety of Life at Sea (Solas) obligations at the Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA).

Solas is a global maritime treaty that requires signatory states to ensure the ships carrying their flags comply with minimum safety standards in construction, equipment and operation.

In South Africa Solas is governed by the South African Maritime Safety Authority. As TNPA's new marine compliance manager, Ngcobo is in charge of overseeing the programme.

Her task is to ensure TNPA employees are benchmarked against international compliance standards, ensure sea-time for in-house seafarers to upgrade their sea qualifications, and provide out-ofborder dredging services to other ports in Africa and around the world.

“Rolling out Solas is a huge opportunity to broaden the reach of TNPA and its employees – showcasing our capabilities in ports around the world, and growing the capacity of TNPA's dredging services.”

No stranger to new challenges

Her appointment as marine compliance manager is an exciting opportunity, Ngcobo says. But it's not her first achievement.

In 2014 she was appointed Africa's first female dredge master. Dredging, she explains, entails excavating material from the seabed to make the port deeper, and relocating the excavated material elsewhere for disposal.

“If there were no dredgers ports would not be able to function.”

After graduating from Durban University of Technology, Ngcobo's journey began with an overseas cadetship where she had to get stuck in and apply what she had learned in her degree.

“The biggest challenge was getting into the dirty work,” she says. “You just get handed a paintbrush and off you go! Most of the time I was the only female on board, but I was lucky that my crew were mostly South Africans, so I didn't have to struggle with the language barrier.”

During her time abroad she also worked as a ship navigation officer.

“It was good for me, from a practical standpoint – but also because I got to see the world. I got to explore different cultures, from the Far East to West Africa.”

Returning to South Africa, she set her sights on a new challenge. “I wasn't aware that there hadn't been a female dredge master, but once I found out I made that my goal, my full focus and interest.”

She credits her success to a sunny personality and a drive to succeed.

“You have to work with people the same age or older than your dad. Being young, you have to both show and command respect, and I think being a bubbly character helped me get the best out of the experience.”

Ngcobo says she is seeing a lot of young women coming into the maritime industry, which means doors are opening for black females in particular.