Durban gets R1.4bn tug contract
Transnet National Ports Authority ( TNPA) has secured a R1.4 billion contract to produce tugboats in Durban which will provide 500 direct and 3 500 indirect jobs.
The project, which began last August, will last 42 months, the TNPA said.
The nine tugboats will be produced at the Southern African Shipyards in Durban. According to Southern African Shipyards CEO Prasheen Maharaj, the contract has a R800 million socioeconomic benefit for the country.
“This is a real demonstration of how the maritime economy can be used to unlock the economic potential of South Africa,” said Maharaj.
“Our country definitely has the skills and capacity to succeed in sectors such as marine transport and manufacturing, ship building and ship repair.
“We have committed to ensuring that each tug has a minimum of 60% locally manufactured components, while partnering with international companies on the remaining aspects that cannot be manufactured here, for example the engines and propulsion units.”
The TNPA would send local employees for training nationally and internationally.
TNPA programme manager Eugene Rappetti, senior manager for marine operations, said the organisation had a training programme for engineering and deck cadets to provide skilled people to operate the tugboats.
Rappetti said: “This is a milestone project that reinforces the capacity and skill of South Africa and, indeed, Durban when it comes to competing in the global shipbuilding industry.”
The new tugboats would include the latest propulsion technology to make them more manoeuvrable, change direction and thrust more swiftly.
Rappetti said TNPA had 29 tugs in service nationally. Stronger, more powerful, tugboats were required because of the increased number and frequency of bigger commercial vessels coming into South African ports.
The ports of Durban, Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth would each receive two tugboats and Saldanha would get three.
The first tug was expected to be handed over in January 2016 and the last in early in 2018.