Locally built boats will boost Eastern Cape’s maritime economy

New builds enter service

SOUTH AFRICA: The addition of two new locally built aluminium boats in Gqeberha will boost the continued growth of the maritime economy in the Eastern Cape by catering to the passing ships and vessels at anchor for bunkers in Algoa Bay.

The two vessels were officially launched at a function last week and christened by their godmothers, Jasmine Dixon and Jenny Needham.

Offshore Maritime Services (OMS) commissioned the build of the two boats from Legacy Marine to join their fleet in the Port of Port Elizabeth following the successful growth of Off Port Limits (OPL) services since 2016 when the offshore bunker station was established.

“Since then we have been able to design, commission and build three new fit-for-purpose vessels in collaboration with Legacy Marine,” says Godfrey Needham, General Manager of OMS who believes in the goal of establishing Algoa Bay as one of the primary OPL locations in southern Africa.

Ships travelling around the coast with no scheduled stops in South African ports can be serviced by OPL vessels that travel out to meet them to transfer crew, stores, spares and other necessary items.

“Every ship serviced at OPL represents a notable cash injection of direct foreign income, across the economy,” explains Needham, adding that the nature of the ships’ requirements means that there is significant scope for even wider economic activity.

Needham is confident that the sector is poised to grow. “With just the current participants, and no capital spend, this entire sector can immediately be grown to three times the current industry turnover,” he says.

And Algoa Bay is well-positioned to take advantage of this development. Offering a relatively sheltered rendezvous location, the Bay is ideal for OPL services. “Our local operators offer world-class services and the potential for dramatic growth in the OPL services delivery sector is almost limitless,” adds Needham.

The launch of OMS’s two new vessels highlight this confidence. The OMS Diligent and the OMS Dash will join the OMS Defiant as well as their larger OMS Dominant in Gqeberha and represent the company’s commitment to invest further in the local maritime sector.

Built for purpose

It is significant too, that all three vessels were built by the Gqeberha-based boat yard of Legacy Marine. While over 90 per cent of Legacy’s boats are built for the export market, a robust local maritime sector will also boost growth in the boat and ship building sectors, which offer opportunity for job creation as well as skills development.

Speaking at the launch function, Kevin Gray of Legacy Marine, acknowledged OMS’s commitment and dedication to the local boat building industry as he highlighted their company’s success in supplying vessels to the African continent.

“We are very proud of our association with OMS and of the fit-for-purpose vessels that we have built together,” he said adding that the support of the boat building sector will help provide employment to areas such as the Eastern Cape. “We have built in excess of a thousand vessels in the last 19 years and we have manufactured, sold and delivered these vessels to 30 African countries.”

Noting the size of the vessel order that Needham has placed over the last two years, Gray said; “Godfrey has a vision for the industry and this order shows his commitment to the OPL sector. We hope that the additional capacity will foster job creation and compliance in the sector.

“The vessels were built specifically to comply with SAMSA’s Marine Notice MN 03-22 which details the requirements for small vessels to operate as off port limit supply launches to make sure that these vessels do exactly what is required.”

With the capacity to carry six passengers and three crew-members, with four tonnes of stores, these two new aluminium vessels will be used as fast crew supply vessels. Efficiently transferring international crew to and from passing vessels in comfort is only one of the many services offered by OMS and the OPL sector.

Powered by two Suzuki DF200 4-stroke engines, the 8.97 m vessels can easily reach their service speed of 18 knots, but have the capacity to travel at 30 knots. In addition, a deck space of 27m2 allows the two sister ships to also transfer cargo to the vessel.

If, however, the booked loading exceeds their four tonne capacity, the service can be seamlessly upgraded to the OMS Defiant, another Legacy vessel that entered into service in 2021.

Featuring a 30 m2 deck area, the OMS Defiant can easily handle 10 tonnes of cargo in addition to 12 passengers and four crew-members. The all-aluminium 22 metre OMS Dominant can, in turn, carry more than 60 tonnes of deck cargo, with 45 tonnes of bulk water and 12 passengers, all of this delivered even in boisterous weather conditions.

A maritime opportunity

The OPL sector has an established maritime history in South Africa. “Our OPL sector dates back to 1488 when Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Cape and made numerous landings ashore to replenish his vessels,” says Needham.

“Since then the sector has developed within a number of the country’s ports and now provides comprehensive supplies of every material requirement for passing ships. Any East/West trading ship, not passing through the Suez Canal, will pass within 20 miles of these ports, making South Africa a true half-way house for international trading ships,” he adds.

As one of the established operators, OMS has always maintained a full complement of permanently employed career path mariners, to man their fleet of seven vessels positioned in Gqeberha and Cape Town.

According to Needham, the three newest vessels have created 12 additional permanent sea-going positions. With the relief and substitute crews required to safely man their fleet of vessels, the company currently employs a total sea-staff of 62.

“In the last few years, we have taken on many school-leavers, and trained and supported them, to ultimately qualify as sea-going mariners,” says Needham. The development of local talent within the maritime industry is key to the successful growth of the country’s blue economy.

Needham describes the achievements of one school leaver who joined the company five years ago.

“Our most recent success story was the appointment of a Motorman Trainee who joined us without having one day at sea experience. Within five years, she has deservedly been promoted to Branch Manager in Gqeberha,” he says.

Needham aims to see these successes multiplied by supporting the growth of the OPL sector. “Current operators need to collaborate to promote sustainable competition,” he says explaining that recent developments could see the establishment of an industry association to work with government agencies with the aim of promoting South Africa as the premier southern hemisphere OPL destination or the only comprehensive OPL location in Africa.

“An increase to R10 billion per annum in foreign income into South Africa, is an achievable target, within just the first year, if we all support each other,” he says.

Vessel specifications: OMS Dash and OMS Diligent: