Eastern Cape Business 2017 edition

The maritime economy is
building momentum
Port Elizabeth hosted the “Investing in Blue Economy” conference in 2016.
The Eastern Cape is perfectly positioned to take
advantage of the new interest in developing a
maritime economy. The province has 800km
of coastline, three ports, two industrial development
zones geared to attracting investments in
new sectors and an academic community geared to
maritime research.
A national plan called the Oceans Economy has recently
been launched and the ports of East London,
Port Elizabeth and Ngqura naturally feature prominently
in these strategies for exploiting the coastline
and the opportunities offered by busy shipping lines
along the eastern seaboard.
The first manifestation of national commitment to
the strategy came late in 2016 with the allocation by
the Department of Energy of two Liquefied Natural
Gas (LNG) plants. One option for private investors
to build and operate such a plant is at the Port of
Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal. The other option (to
which 1 000MW has been allocated) is the Port of
Ngqura, at the Coega Industrial Development Zone
(CIDZ). This signifies that port IDZs are a key plank
in national energy policy, and that ties in with the
Oceans Economy plan.
Both IDZs have aquaculture sections and are keen
to attract investors in this sector. The East London IDZ
already has investors such as Pure Ocean Aquaculture
and Ocean Wise. Zone 10 has been set aside within
the Coega IDZ for marine farming. Fish such as Dusky
Kob and abalone and seaweed are all attractive
options for enterprises.
The Oceans Economy forms part of the broader
Operation Phakisa, a plan that targets sectors that can
best achieve quick returns in terms of growth and
job creation. Phakisa falls under the Department of
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. The four target
areas within the maritime strategy are: aquaculture;
offshore oil and gas; marine protection and governance;
marine transport and manufacturing.
The untapped potential that passes South Africa’s
coast is immense. This includes the fact that South
Africa does maintenance on only 5% of the 13 000
vessels that use SA ports and services 4-5% of the
approximately 130 rigs that pass along the coast
each year.
Oil and gas appear to hold the most potential,
and the gas plant plans for Coega and the prospect
of a manganese smelting facility being established in
the same IDZ suggest that this kind of energy-hungry
industrial activity could hold good prospects for
the Eastern Cape. Ngqura and East London are well
positioned to act as container transit points: ships
EASTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017
12