Jan-Feb, Mar-Apr, May-Jun 1965 - Navy League of Australia

(Bomber) Harris and Sir ErnestOppenheimer of Anglo Americanfame. You may be interestedto know that Dr. van der Bijlhad to ask permission of GeneralSmuts, the then Prime Minister,to become chairman, as he wasat that time also chairman ofIscor, Escom, Amcor and Vccor.The arrangement to have alarge percentage of the companyowned by American ship-owninginterests was, of course, a brilliantmove by Dr. van der Bijlto ensure a working knowledgebeing available for the operationof our ships at sea. Few SouthAfricans had any experience atthe time. Although the head officewas in Cape Town, the dayto day scheduling and charteringwas virtually controlled in NewYork.Monthly SailingsSafmarine started out with amonthly sailing to the U.S.A..subsequently increased to oncea fortnight. In 1950 we decidedto enter the U.K. trade. Easiersaid than done. It is not generallyknown that neither Safmarinenor S.A. Lines, which wasalso formed about that time,were allowed to join the powerfulconference of shipping linesthat served South Africa, andwhich in fact, was contracted tothe South African Government.We had to appeal to the Governmentand get it to take a hand inforcing the Conference Lines(under the Chairmanship, at thattime, of Sir Vernon Thompson)to accept Safmarine and S.A.Lines on a once a month sailingbasis to and from U.K. Mr. EricLouw was then Minister of EconomicAffairs and took on thejob for us.It took us another 10 yearsand many bitterly contestedmeetings before Safmarine wasallowed by conference to increaseits sailings from the WestCoast to 18 a year. Yet threeyears ago and virtually overnightwe more than doubled our interestsby taking over the SpringbokLine from the British and CommonwealthGroup. In doing sowe gained the equivalent of fortnightlysailings to the East Coastof U.K. and the Continent andother valuable rights.A series of misfortunes occurredto Safmarine, starting withDr. van der Bijl's death in 1949and followed a few months laterby that of Mr. A. S. Hersov, whobecame chairman in his place.Sir Ernest Oppenheimer resignedfrom the board and Mr. S. G.Mcnell, who had taken the chair,also withdrew in October, 1951.As a result of an unsuccessfulresponse to Safmarine's publicoffer of shares in 1947, both theAnglo and Anglo Transvaal hadbecome possessed of large blocksof shares and these were now offeredfor sale.JOIN THE NAVY LEAGUEThe object of the Navy League In Australia, likeits older counterpart, the Navy League in Britain,la to insist by all means at Its disposal upon thevital importance of Sea Power to the British Commonwealthof Nations. The League sponsors theAustralian Sea Cadet Corps by giving technical seaThe League consists of Fellows (Annual or Life) and Associates.All British subjects who signify approval to the objects of the League are eligible.training to and instilling naval training in boys whointend to serve in Naval or Merchant services andalso to those sea-minded boys who do not Intendto follow a sea career, but who, given this knowledgewill form a valuable Reserve for the Naval Service.MAY WE A8K YOU TO JOIN and swell our members so that the Navy League In Australia may be widelyknown and exercise an important influence In the life of the Australian Nation?For particulars, contact The Secretary, 66 Clarence Street, Sydney, N.S.W.,or The Secretary, Room 8, 8th Floor, 528 Collins Street, Melbourne, CI, Victoria.or one of the Hon. Secretaries at:# Box 376E, G.P.O.. Brisbane, Queensland# 11 Qoorn Street, Sandy Bay, Hobart, TiSJ C/- II.M.A.S. "Melville". Darwin, NT16# 30 Firie Street, Adelaide, S.A.# 182 Coode Street, Como, W.A.# 60 Limestone Ave., Atnstte, Canberra, A.C.T.THE NAVY. ISouth Africa had never beenshipping minded and provedtheir consistency once again, sothat our American partners addedto their holdings to the extentof becoming 54 per cent, controllersof the company and theClan Line in Britain obtained afairly large slice of the availableshares. This started their interestin Safmarine as a shareholder.My co-directors did me the honourof electing me chairman inOctober, 1951.In 1955/56 Safmarine boughtfour ships, SOUTH AFRICANMERCHANT. SOUTH AFRI­CAN PIONEER, SOUTH AF­RICAN TRADER and SOUTHAFRICAN TRANSPORTER, ofabout 12,400 tons each, thusbringing its owned fleet to seven,but at that stage the companyowed about £1,250,000 on thr.last of these purchases. Businesswas still brisk, the company wasdoing well, but events were leadingup to the Suez crisis.The CrackThe crack came soon after theSuez Canal was reopened andworld-wide shipping has experienceda long five year of overtonnagingon the high seas andconditions bordering on a slump.In May, 1959, the States MarineCorporation of New Yorkdecided to apply for an Americansubsidy and preliminary tothat application had to relievethemselves of all foreign investmentswhere a competitive elementexisted. They gave us twomonths' notice of their desire tosell out completely and sever allconnection with Safmarine.Safmarine was faced with theneed to find a buyer fp; 54 percent, of its shares and a sponsorto take over a ship's mortgageof about £1,250,000 all in 60days.That was when once again weappealed to the Government, Dr.Diederichs being the particularMinister, and the Industrial De-JANUARY-FEBRUARY, IMS~ 'velopment Corporation of S.A.,Ltd., investigated and within therequired time bought back forSouth Africa this controlling interestin the company. By thistime the Clan Line, later Britishand Commonwealth, had gatheredtogether some 28 per cent,of Safmarine shares.These two major shareholdersgot together a year or solater and reached the agreementwhereby Safmarine bought theSpringbok Line, previouslyknown as the Bullard King Line,increased its own capital from£800,000 to £3,200,000, expungedits previous debt of over£1,000,000, jumped from sevenowned ships to 14 and rejoicedin the fact that £500,000 lay inthe bank. Four of those ships,SOUTH AFRICAN FARMER.SOUTH AFRICAN FINANCI­ER, SOUTH AFRICAN SCI­ENTIST and SOUTH AFRI­CAN SCULPTOR, which wereuneconomical to operate, weresold so that we now own 10 generalcargo ships but operateabout 20 to cover our variousservices which bring us intopretty tough world-wide competition,including the Americansubsidised lines on the U.S.A.route, the British companies onthe U.K. Coasts and mainly theDutch and Germans of the Continentalsin Europe.Two TankersTwo further moves were initiatedby Safmarine last year.One was signing of a contractwith the African Metals Corporationand I.DC. in conjunctionwith the Macrsk Line ofDenmark, whereby the last twocompanies would provide shipswhich Safmarine would manage,to convey for 10 years, 500,000tons of pig iron a year from Durbanto Japan. Two tankers havebeen bought and are being convertedto bulk carriers which willstart operations from Durban inJuly this year. They will benamed SAFDAN HELENE andSAFDEN YVONNE.The second innovation was thedecision to enter the refrigerated,or "reefer" trade, South Africato Europe. This involved an interestingand detailed investigationinto the best type of vesselto provide. After our close collaborationwith the PerishableProducts Export Control Board,a new ship was designed andsuccessfully tested in experimentaltanks in Europe.One ship, m.v. LANGKLOOF,was built in Rotterdam and threem.v. LETABA, m.v. DRAKEN-STEIN and m.v. TZANEEN toour orde; and specification inGreenock, Scotland.Two of these ships are alreadyin operation for us, the next willget to Cape Town soon and thefourth was launched in April.These ships, fully equipped andstored, will cost in the vicinityof £1,800,000 each, thus representinganother investment ofsomething over £7,000,000 payablefor the most part over thenext five to seven years. One hasalready been paid for in full andsatisfactory arrangements havebeen concluded in regard to theoperation and financing of theother three. These acquisitionshave put Safmarine into the forefrontas a transporter of cooledand frozen fruit because in a fullseason we would hope to moveabout 175,000 tons a year.These several achievements,accomplished at a time whenshipping was and relatively stillis, at low ebb, indicate the deepseatedconfidence of our majorshareholders and the board ifdirectors in South Africa's future.They exhibit also the intentionof Safmarine within therealms of economic liability totake part wherever possible inmajor movements of cargo to orfrom South Africa. The considerableattention being displayedby all sectors of the South Africanbusiness community in the17