SA Ship register 'uncompetitive'

ghoti said:
We have at least four largeish ports. The two largest been Durban and Slaapstad, the other two being Port Elizabeth and East London.

Unfortunately we do not sit on such a "east to west" route as we used to. The Suez Canal killed a lot of traffic around our coast a long time ago.
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if the development of central Africa can just pick up then we might increase that trade. We also have a good pathway to South America.
 
Just a bit of an addition to this one...

Ships will more often than not register with a register known as a "Flag of convenience". Many reason, most of which revolve around tax legislation, avoiding local labour regulations, and the ability to hire people other than from the nationality the ship is registered in.

So for us to make our ship registry more "competitive" we will need to change a fair chunk of regulations, because I can be damn sure no ship owner will choose to register their ship in this country if they have to abide by the labour laws of this country.
 
In fact - thanks to the container terminal at City Deep - the biggest "port" in South Africa is in fact Johannesburg - the world's biggest "dry" port :)
 
ToxicBunny said:
Just a bit of an addition to this one...

Ships will more often than not register with a register known as a "Flag of convenience". Many reason, most of which revolve around tax legislation, avoiding local labour regulations, and the ability to hire people other than from the nationality the ship is registered in.

So for us to make our ship registry more "competitive" we will need to change a fair chunk of regulations, because I can be damn sure no ship owner will choose to register their ship in this country if they have to abide by the labour laws of this country.
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yip, our businesses are going the same way
 
rrh said:
In fact - thanks to the container terminal at City Deep - the biggest "port" in South Africa is in fact Johannesburg - the world's biggest "dry" port :)
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There is talk of a "Super Terminal" somewhere in Gauteng.. can't remember if its City Deep or not... but it will basically be the hub for almost ALL rail traffic in the country.
 
ToxicBunny said:
There is talk of a "Super Terminal" somewhere in Gauteng.. can't remember if its City Deep or not... but it will basically be the hub for almost ALL rail traffic in the country.
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It is probably Germiston or Santon (for markets).
 
Nah.. its an existing rail terminal area.. just can't remember which one. Its def NOT Sandton...
 
ToxicBunny said:
There is talk of a "Super Terminal" somewhere in Gauteng.. can't remember if its City Deep or not... but it will basically be the hub for almost ALL rail traffic in the country.
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My understanding is that City Deep is fast running out of space, so a new / bigger terminal is critical.
 
I have over 7000 ships on our register here at work, quite a few are SA ships I'd have to do a few queries to get a list but I did notice a handfull, however the carriers, their registrated companies are mostly European and Asian. So it's not a case of them simply being un-registered, just not here in SA. Just saying.
 
Beerisgood said:
I have over 7000 ships on our register here at work, quite a few are SA ships I'd have to do a few queries to get a list but I did notice a handfull, however the carriers, their registrated companies are mostly European and Asian. So it's not a case of them simply being un-registered, just not here in SA. Just saying.
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well money always goes where it is wanted.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Richards bay blows most ports out of the water on pure tonnage, hell it even gives Durban a run for its money...
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Just never heard of them moving much but coal. The town is also tiny. Going to reserve my judgement till I see actual volumes :D
 
ghoti said:
Just never heard of them moving much but coal. The town is also tiny. Going to reserve my judgement till I see actual volumes :D
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If I am not mistaken, ToxicBunny is correct. Richards Bay moves massive quantities.

* can't provide source but I am fairly certain I've read about it somewhere.
 
Nicodeamus said:
if the development of central Africa can just pick up then we might increase that trade. We also have a good pathway to South America.
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Nearly all of our Freight Tonnage from SA is from Argentina and Brazil.

We did import 2 tons of nuts from Brazil yesterday. That's a kark load of nuts :p
 
ghoti said:
Just never heard of them moving much but coal. The town is also tiny. Going to reserve my judgement till I see actual volumes :D
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Go and have a look at this document...

http://www.transnet.net/BusinessWithUs/LTPF 2012/4. Ports Development Plans.pdf

Its a very interesting read... I'd completely forgotten about Saldanha, it looks like its turning into the biggest port on the West Coast.

RBay is currently the biggest for Dry Bulk and Break Bulk... what does surprise me is that Durban is the biggest vehicle shipment hub... I wouldn't actually have guessed that.
 
Wall said:
If I am not mistaken, ToxicBunny is correct. Richards Bay moves massive quantities.

* can't provide source but I am fairly certain I've read about it somewhere.
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I concur, in the millions of tons per month.
 
ghoti said:
What are your top 3? Cause afaik, Durban, Cape Town, PE and EL are the largest ones.

EL is used to export Mercs and much of our meat.

Richards Bay and Saldanha Bay are smaller than PE and EL AFAIK.
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A fairly damning display of ignorance - particularly when paired with your Suez canal remarks

Second busiest port in Africa by containers - TEUs is Durban
Busiest port in Africa by tonnage is Richards Bay. Saldanha is also a tonnage rather than container heavy port

Cape Town and Port Elizabeth are busy ports and East London makes a contribution
Making Durban, CT, PE and EL our bigger container ports with Saldanha and Richards Bay as very much heavy bulk cargo ports.
Port of Ngqura is growing as a port and actually is doing pretty well PE port operations is actually growing.

Durban is very much our main maritime city although a lot of the authorities and organizations are in the Cape. There is enough work for the lawyers ...
 
ToxicBunny said:
what does surprise me is that Durban is the biggest vehicle shipment hub... I wouldn't actually have guessed that.
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ja but its a lot of Toyota imports IIRC PE exports more vehicles and Durban imports the vehicles both East London and Cape Town also have sizable vehicle and vehicle component business. We need ships to have cars
 
Paul Hjul said:
ja but its a lot of Toyota imports IIRC PE exports more vehicles and Durban imports the vehicles both East London and Cape Town also have sizable vehicle and vehicle component business. We need ships to have cars
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Yeah, I know about Toyota.. just surprises me that Durban is so far ahead of the other cities.. I would have expected it to be a lot closer in terms of volumes.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Go and have a look at this document...

http://www.transnet.net/BusinessWithUs/LTPF 2012/4. Ports Development Plans.pdf

Its a very interesting read... I'd completely forgotten about Saldanha, it looks like its turning into the biggest port on the West Coast.

RBay is currently the biggest for Dry Bulk and Break Bulk... what does surprise me is that Durban is the biggest vehicle shipment hub... I wouldn't actually have guessed that.
Click to expand...

A lot of vehicle imports include mining equipment. A 150 ton loader comes straight to Durban in pieces and the shortest route from Durbs to JHB for assembly. Even many tons of a mining vehicle is terms of tonnage. Everything in imports is tonnage, not the quantity of vehicles.

Grindrod Logistics have their head office here in Natal and are one of South Africa's largest vehicle handlers.
 
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