Cape Town - The Western Cape is opposed to the government’s plans to start a national shipping line in response to the vulnerabilities highlighted by the supply chain disruptions during Covid-19.
The Department of Transport recently called for comments on the first draft of the South African Shipping Company Bill, 2022.
The government hopes that if the bill goes through, the South African Shipping Company (Sasco) could be launched as early as next year.
The Transport Department said South Africa generated a large amount of export cargo, but had not had a national carrier since Safmarine was acquired by Maersk in 1999.
Finance and economic opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger said the bill was oblivious to the reality that South Africa had no shortage of failing SOEs, which continued to extract money needed for lifesaving and life-changing services.
“It also seems blind to the hard fact that we face a budget-crunch in South Africa, with a lot less money to deliver critical services to our people,” she said.
The national government’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement said earlier in the year R30 billion would be redirected to struggling SOEs this year alone.
Wenger said establishing yet another SOE was not the answer and if the country wanted to boost trade, what was needed was to ensure that the ports had the necessary infrastructure to function optimally.
“To do this, we need greater levels of private-sector participation. While we welcome that this is being pursued at the ports of Durban and Ngqura, we are concerned that the Port of Cape Town, which is an excellent candidate, has been excluded,” she said.