Offshore ship refuelling plan makes waves
Opponents concerned about environmental impact of ‘bunkering’
● The regulator tasked with protecting SA’s oceans is championing a plan to increase offshore ship-to-ship fuel transfers despite environmental concerns.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) intends to license new operators and create more bunker anchorages from next month.
But the decision does not have the support of the department of forestry, fisheries & the environment (DFFE) and environmentalists, due to the absence of a long-awaited comprehensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.
Samsa has confirmed it will start a new licensing process on April 1 regardless of stakeholders’ concerns and ongoing consultation with DFFE and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA).
A moratorium on new licences was imposed in August 2019 after allegations of questionable dealings in the offshore bunkering industry in Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape.
Ship-to-ship bunkering involves refuelling using smaller barges but the new regulations also apply to larger ship-to-ship transfers of crude oil cargo involving two larger tankers.
Samsa said its decision is part of its legal mandate to safeguard bunkering operations ahead of an expected sharp increase in marine traffic linked to oil, gas and power supply.
Samsa recently published a new code outlining how it will restructure bunkering in Algoa Bay and possibly extend the industry’s footprint to Mossel Bay and St Helena Bay in the Western Cape.
Ship-to-ship bunkering has already demonstrated a risk of oil spills in this ecologically sensitive and valuable area
Melissa Lewis from BirdLife SA
The new code “is to ensure that any operation is done legally and safely”, Samsa said in response to Sunday Times queries.
“No permission has been given to date for long-term [bunkering] operations in Mossel Bay and St Helena Bay.
“However, Samsa is aware that operators are looking at other areas. Any operations in other areas will only be allowed if the risk can be mitigated properly and after careful consideration.”
DFFE spokesperson Albi Modise confirmed the department is liaising with Samsa and TNPA about the missing EIA.
“The department is aware of concerns raised by some stakeholders, in particular the environmental sector. The department shares these concerns and is liaising with Samsa and TNPA to find ways to expedite the assessment,” he said.
Some maritime sources say the regulator wants to expand the sector to increase revenue from tariffs. Of particular concern is an expected increase in ship-to-ship cargo transfers, which have been relatively infrequent in SA waters due to generally unfavourable weather conditions.
While offshore bunkering activities generally involve relatively small quantities of marine fuel, ship-to-ship transfers involve crude oil cargo pumped through pipes at up to 150,000l a minute.
Documents tabled at the bunkering stakeholder working group show Samsa wants to formalise offshore anchorages in Algoa Bay to accommodate fuel bunkering and larger cargo transfers.
Samsa has recommended four bunkering licences for Algoa Bay, which currently has two operators, and it wants to accommodate a floating storage and regasification unit to support industry expansion.
“This [bunkering] operation is still in its infancy stage of development and will require further analysis over the next few years to determine optimum activity level,” the Samsa capacity report says.
Moves to accommodate more bunkering coincide with heightened public awareness about potential damage to the marine environment linked to seismic surveys.
However, the government is under pressure to create jobs in the maritime economy
— one of the pillars of its Operation Phakisa development programme.
There is also pressure to manage larger volumes of bunkering fuel, prompted partly by the closure of local refineries and rising imports.
Figures presented at a bunkering stakeholder workshop last week show the industry has in six years already injected significant investment into the economy, with the number of bunkering launch boats increasing from five to 16, and the number of trips from 124 a year to 872.
Overall, the number of ship-to-ship bunker operations in Algoa Bay increased from 206 in 2016 to 1,085 in 2019.
Sources said Samsa has also faced pressure to accommodate more locally owned businesses in the sector. But there is concern that its new rules may contravene the Ports Act, which gives TNPA sole authority over activity within port limits.
Some commercial stakeholders have backed Samsa’s intervention in the sector, claiming it would streamline an approval process that has been inconsistent and confusing.
Formalising ship-to-ship transfers in designated areas, such as Algoa Bay, would mean they can be better monitored compared with transfers in the open ocean where conditions were less favourable, sources said.
“If there is a spill it has everything to do with Samsa, not the port authority,” said an industry consultant. “It has been a bit of a free-for-all in the past.”
But environmental activists believe the risk of an oil spill outweighs the short-term revenue gain.
“It has already demonstrated a risk of oil spills in this ecologically sensitive and valuable area,” said Melissa Lewis from BirdLife SA.
“We find it inconceivable that this activity should be further expanded without a thorough assessment of its full range of environmental impacts, and of whether (and, if so, how) these can be mitigated to an acceptable level.”
TNPA said it supported Samsa’s moves to expand the bunkering industry.