Reported last year was the quest to employ and train young South African cadets and junior officers aboard vessels of a large tanker company, while earlier this year, a Scandinavian shipping company announced its intention to recruit dozens of young South African seafarers.
Also well known is the need to replace hundreds of Ukrainian and Russian seafarers who once formed a significant part of the world’s seafaring pool, but currently are engaged in a war.
In addition, Maersk resumed employing South African cadets and junior officers, enabling young South Africans to be trained aboard ships operated by the Danish company once more, a most welcome move.
Dynamic expansion of the international leisure boat sector – notably of the superyacht business – has increased the demand for trained crews, while the burgeoning cruise ship business has brought a commensurate rise in the demand for a wide range of personnel – from conventional navigating and engineering officers to hotel staff and other onboard service providers. Worldwide, hundreds of young South Africans are employed in various positions aboard cruise ships and superyachts.
As an increasing number of cruise ships call at South African ports – some are based on the South African coast for extended periods – plans are in hand to train hotel and catering staff at the Passenger Terminal in Cape Town. The potential of these courses and of other existing courses is vast, particularly as skills acquired there can be transferred to several sectors within the maritime industry. Besides the crewing opportunities it offers, the growing leisure boat industry has brought significant advances in the local boat-building industry as evidenced by the success of several builders of ocean-going luxury catamarans and other yachts. With purchase prices quoted in dollars, local builders who can produce high-quality vessels do exceptionally well and provide a range of employment from naval architects, highly-skilled technicians, and electronic experts to more menial jobs, each requiring appropriate training.
“Unfortunate and extremely short-sighted,” were responses to last year’s court ruling – at the behest of the green lobby – that offshore oil and gas prospecting along the Eastern Cape coast should stop, citing environmental and other concerns.
Protagonists of the prospecting operations pointed to the potential employment opportunities that would be created. Initially, survey vessels, drill ships, and service vessels would bring crewing jobs while shoreside ancillary services would expand accordingly. However, if prospecting operations yield discoveries of viable oil and/or gas reserves, FPSOs, shuttle tankers and more would be required for the range of operations associated with offshore oil or gas production.
Apart from crewing those vessels engaged in offshore activities – as has been the case in the Angolan oil and gas sector – a busy offshore oil industry provides a wide range of jobs in ancillary services ashore. Under-utilised East London harbour would become a local version of Aberdeen (Scotland) or Stavanger (Norway) whose expansion during the North Sea oil boom is well-documented. Should similar prospecting operations currently underway off the west coast have positive results, Saldanha Bay and the entire region will enjoy a bright future. With people hungry and homeless – and thousands of young people hopeless of securing employment – the country cannot afford the luxury of green lobbies controlling the economic development agenda – and a reversal of that inhibiting court order should be sought forthwith.
Captains Samantha Joubert, Ntlahla (Lucky) Tetyana and Xoliswa Madotyeni, tugmasters in Cape Town and among eight local tugmasters who attended Lawhill Maritime Centre in Simon’s Town prior to their tertiary maritime studies under the previous system at CPUT and spending time at sea to qualify as Officers-of-the-Watch. Recruited by TNPA for training as tugmasters, they qualified and were promoted to command tugs in Cape Town harbour.
Associated with offshore operations is specialised rig and drillship maintenance. During its heyday as a repair centre for rigs from many quarters, Cape Town once had three rigs undergoing refits, each bringing in millions of dollars to the economy and providing hundreds of jobs for a wide spectrum of people – from unskilled labour to highly-technical personnel. If ports can be persuaded to provide berths for rigs and drillships undergoing refits at much-reduced tariffs, the spin-off for the regional and national economy will be considerable – and all-important jobs will be available.
On major trade routes and having many ships terminating or beginning charters in local ports, South Africa’s five drydocks, several floating docks, sychrolifts and slipways are ideally situated geographically for routine drydocking and ship maintenance projects. In addition, the vast potential for a large drydock to accommodate the largest ships passing the Cape could expand the marine engineering sector to new heights.
And further expansion is possible with the privatisation of some facilities, dynamic marketing of the drydocks and the country’s associated marine engineering capacities, as well as incentives such as halving port dues for vessels undergoing refits. To meet any increase in marine engineering projects in South African ports, large numbers of qualified shipwrights, fitters, precision welders, heavy current electricians, and others will be needed. In the short term, foreign artisans can provide training and expertise, but in the longer term, local people need training in these and other trades. A start can be made on this as the necessary skills are portable and, even if qualified people work elsewhere, salaries can be repatriated to South Africa. The opportunities listed above also open the way for qualified young South Africans to embark on most worthwhile careers at sea and in affiliated shoreside activities. Much needs to be done to smooth the way for aspirant seafarers and for those heading to shoreside employment within the maritime framework. To adhere to the rigid structures and demands of maritime institutions rather than meeting the training needs of the global shipping industry, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology at Granger Bay and at the Durban University of Technology lamentably dispensed with the two-year maritime studies courses. In the original format of those courses, cadets could proceed to sea on completion of the first year’s course to gain practical experience before returning at a later stage to complete the second year. Some cadets elected to complete both years consecutively before beginning their seagoing career. That system which had operated successfully over many years and that had produced excellent ships’ officers was replaced by a three-year course, an ill-advised decision.
To support their families, many young South Africans need to begin earning as soon as possible after leaving school, yet the new system at the universities compelled them to complete three years of study – with all the associated fees and boarding costs – before earning their first salary. Bursary donors also find it difficult to support cadets for three years’ tertiary study, rather than for one year or two years.
Chief Mate aboard the supramax bulker IVS Gleneagles is former Lawhill student Tyron Campbell, shown here inspecting the sheaves of a deck crane aboard his vessel. He is a local officer who has been exceptionally successful in his career after following the original tertiary maritime studies course at CPUT.
On occasions, studies at the two universities have been disrupted by protest action, unrelated to the maritime departments. As it is imperative that maritime education and training comply with international requirements, local maritime studies departments should be divorced entirely from the inflexible governance systems and structures of universities and schools.
Bureaucratic governing bodies of these institutions or academics at quasi-government institutions usually are not familiar with international requirements and some of their decisions can obstruct the proper operation of the maritime department working according to international standards. In contrast, a 27-week officer-of-the-watch course offered by the South African Maritime Training Academy (SAMTRA) in Simon’s Town and other similar courses are more attractive, and also provide opportunities for vital training in small-boat handling. Besides the obvious need for well-designed courses presented by experienced and enthusiastic lecturers for participants to gain navigation or engineering expertise, the cadets also require exposure to “soft skills” – sense of responsibility, punctuality, a positive work ethic that involves doing more than required and working long hours, exercising initiative, investment advice, and more. Properly prepared, enthusiastic and energetic cadets – with a burning desire to complete their relevant courses to enable them to move through the ranks – will meet the high expectations of employers who will see South Africa as a source of superior quality cadets and officers – as was the case during the heyday of General Botha Merchant Navy Academy and the equivalent engineer cadet training programmes of Safmarine and Unicorn.
Captain Samantha Joubert manoeuvring a harbour tug under the flair of the bow of an inward vessel. She is the product of training courses at Lawhill Maritime Centre, the previous courses at CPUT and Transnet National Port Authority’s own harbour operations training course.
Sadly, the converse is also true if foreign shipowners become disillusioned with the quality and work ethic of local cadets and turn elsewhere for their trainee officers. In such a case, even good South African cadets would be denied the opportunity to obtain their mandatory seatime and worthwhile employment.
With so many opportunities opening for enthusiastic, well-trained South African cadets, artisans and cruise ships’ hotel staff, local training needs to adapt to global requirements and demand, unrestrained by rigid systems imposed by academics who are far removed from the salt and spray.
Former student from Lawhill Maritime Centre student and now Second Mate Ainsley Olivier is aboard a vlcc trading around the Cape between the Arabian Gulf to Europe. He is another successful local officer in a very worthwhile career that requires much initiative and a sense of duty.
Words and images by Brian Ingpen, br***@ca*******.za
