Ship repair opened up to private enterprise

In February this year Transnet
announced the long-awaited call
for expressions of interest in
private enterprise taking over the
operation of Transnet ship repair
facilities at all ports. The call for
proposals issued on February 15
invited interested parties to submit
requests for proposals to become the
operator of eight existing ship repair
facilities including the Prince Edward
Dry Dock in Durban and the Durban
Floating Dock. Other facilities
include Cape Town’s Sturrock
and Robinson dry docks, the Cape
Town Synchrolift, the East London
Princess Elizabeth Dry Dock, and
two slipways at Port Elizabeth and
Mossel Bay.
As is usual with such opportunities,
preference will be given to
BBBEE compliant companies in
terms of Transnet’s policy and the
BBBEE Act.
While the matter remains
confidential, it is understood that a
consortium of local ship repairers
has expressed interest in the Durban
dry dock and adjacent ship repair
workshop. Although one of those
local operators has since withdrawn
and may go it alone, at least one
foreign company is thought to have
also staked an interest.
While operators within the industry
welcomed the move generally, there
was an air of scepticism over whether
it would ever reach fruition.
One sceptic pointed to the muchhyped
Richards Bay ship repair yard
and dry dock that was supposed to
be all but tied up and approved, yet
several years down the line nothing
has happened.
After listening for years to ship
repair operators calling for the
privatisation of these facilities, it
now seems odd that some of these
are questioning why anyone would
want to pay for a facility that requires
considerable investment to upgrade
when, they say, it was far preferable
to simply hire that facility from
Transnet for a short period.