TRANSNET National Ports Authority’s (TNPA) R1.4 billion tug building contract in Durban continues to create jobs and develop local marine capabilities, with the fifth of the authority’s nine new tugs launched in Durban recently.
The project is now 81 per cent complete and still on track to deliver the ninth and final tug early in 2018, on time and within budget. Five tugs are under construction at any given time at the premises of contractor, Southern African Shipyards. Four have already been delivered and at work in Port Elizabeth and Saldanha. The new tug – named UKHOZI – will serve at the Port of Richards Bay. She is KwaZulu Natal’s first new tug among four planned for the province’s ports.
Richards Bay is expecting another of these relatively small but powerful vessels used to guide visiting ships safely into port by pushing or towing them, while Durban will also receive two.
In line with maritime tradition, the duty of christening the vessel was carried out by Lady Sponsor, Sagree Chetty, TNPA’s General Manager: Legal, Risk, Compliance and Regulatory. Speaking at the ceremony, TNPA Chief Executive, Richard Vallihu, acknowledged that it was essential to have well-trained people in place to support Transnet’s major drive to ramp up infrastructure and efficiency at South Africa’s ports.
Transnet has set aside a record-breaking R7,7 billon for training over the next 10 years. The port authority will contribute in excess of R56 billion of capital expenditure under Transnet’s rolling R300 billion-plus Market Demand Strategy, or MDS, which is now in its fifth year.
Vallihu noted the stories of three newly qualified Chief Marine Engineering Officers in the Port of Durban who were among a group of engineers who had the opportunity to hone their practical skills on-site during the construction of several of the tugs. They are now responsible for upholding the mechanical integrity of the port’s fleet of tugs. The men – Prince Zulu, Mlungisi Ngema and Ntuthuko Tshabalala – are part of an ambitious skills development programme to beef up marine resources and to support the Port of Durban’s transition from a four-tug to a six-tug operation in the near future.
According to Southern African Shipyards CEO, Prasheen Maharaj, the launch of the fifth tug, again, within time and budget, has demonstrated clearly that South Africa has the capabilities to deliver world-class services locally.
The nine tugs are being built over three and a half years, as part of a wider fleet replacement programme that also includes new dredging vessels and new marine aviation helicopters.
