Maritime Monthly News Roundup - July 2019 by More Maximum Media

MARITIME REVIEW AFRICA

NEWS ROUND-UP JULY 2019

SHIPPING

Race to meet 2020 deadline SOUTH AFRICA: Speaking at a twoday workshop this month, acting CEO of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), Sobantu Tilayi, admitted that the country faces a tough race to put the necessary legislation in place to effectively implement MARPOL Annex VI by 1 January 2020. “We need to fast-track the legislation,” he told industry stakeholders at the end of the workshop as he called on the Department of Transport (DoT) to take up the initiative and provide a definitive answer on a timeline that would meet the deadline. “This is the one issue that worries me,” he said adding that DoT, as the enforcing agent of IMO instruments, needs to take responsibility for ensuring that South Africa’s reputation as a member state and signatory of MARPOL is not tarnished. Notwithstanding the process of promulgating legislation, Tilayi, said he was confident that the deadline

could be met by simply adding a paragraph referencing MARPOL Annex VI to legislation that is currently moving through the system. “One sentence on the Annex is all that is required,” he said while noting that the parliamentary process may be the only obstacle. The process is designed to ensure that this is not in conflict with any other existing Acts or the Constitution. “I am still committing to the end of the year to have this ready,” he told industry stakeholders, explaining that there was nothing that was likely to be contentious. “We cannot arrest (non-compliant ships) if we do not have the power and this is determined by what is in our law. The consequence is that South Africa will fail to uphold the safety of shipping. It is a reputational issue,” he said adding that this would also go against the Authority’s ambitions to ensure the country’s status as an international maritime hub as well as the

GREEN MARINE

SAMSA still to decide on scrubber SOUTH AFRICA: Having issued a Marine Notice in March noting South Africa’s acceptance of both open and closed loop scrubbers in a post sulphur cap environment, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), has confirmed that a final decision on this matter is yet to be made. Speaking at a two-day workshop on the implications of MARPOL Annex VI for the country, acting CEO of SAMSA, Sobantu Tilayi, asked for input on whether South Africa should join the list of countries that have banned the use of scrubbers in their waters. Reaction from industry and governmental stakeholders was mixed. A number of stakeholders, however, suggested that the use of scrubbers would ultimately be seen to be on the wrong side of the debate. Effectively representing the total commercial ocean-going vessels on the South African Flag, Vuka Marine has already taken the decision not to install scrubbers on their ships. Presenting their case at the workshop, Andrew Millard of Vuka

Marine provided some input on the company’s decision. “We had a lengthy discussion and are not sure that the numbers add up. We believe that it is on the wrong side of the debate and favours the continued use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) which is contrary to IMO objectives,” he said adding that it ultimately requires either seafarers or ports to harvest and dispose of the scrubbed sulphur. Representing the voice of cargo owners, Andrew Lye of Anglo American, who charter Vuka Marine ships as well as other vessels, noted that their position favoured the use of compliant fuel rather than the use of scrubbers. Also speaking at the workshop, Robert Stuart of Petrologistics concurs that scrubbers do not represent the right path for the industry. “From day one when the IMO made their decision (to allow scrubbers), I was of the opinion that they had made a mistake. I believe that the oil industry is the one that needs to deal with this issue,” he said. While many called for the need

administration’s ambitions to be a world-class maritime authority. The two-day workshop, which comes ahead of next week’s International Bunker Industry Association’s conference on bunker matters in Africa, highlighted a number of other issues currently being grappled with on an international stage in the light of the looming 1 January 2020 deadline to implement a global 0.5 percent sulphur cap on bunker fuel as prescribed in MARPOL Annex VI. to undertake more conclusive scientific studies on the impact of “dumping” sulphur at sea to help in decision making, some intimated that in the absence of such a study, the Authority needed to err on the side of caution and eliminate any potential risk to the environment by simply banning scrubbers in South African waters. However, given the fact that SAMSA has already publicly announced via a Marine Notice that scrubbers would be permitted until further notice, many felt that an immediate ban may have a negative economic impact on the local bunker market. Committing to take up the matter, Tilayi said that it was not a straightforward decision and that further deliberation between SAMSA and the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) would need to ensure that a final decision met the government’s strategy on climate change and SAMSA’s mandate to ensure that the maritime industry operated sustainably. Hinting that the likely result of discussions may result in the ban on the use of scrubbers, Tilayi committed to making the final decision by September this year.

Input at the workshop suggests that there will be sufficient supply of compliant fuel locally to the market, but that the promulgation of the necessary legislation remains the one major target that may still elude the country’s preparedness.

Bid to separate TNPA from Transnet gains momentum SOUTH AFRICA: Noting the requirement of the National Ports Act (NPA) to corporatise the National Ports Authority, the Minister of Transport said yesterday that the process was currently addressed. During Minister Fikile Mbalula’s announcement of Alex Moemi as Director General of the Department of Transport in Parliament, highlighted some of the work that the DoT would be pursuing within the maritime sector. He said that urgent attention would be given to the appointment of a permanent board for the National Ports Regulator and that the National Ports Authority would be placed under the authority of the Regulator. In his Budget Speech, however, the Minister also highlighted that the various regulators would be consolidated into one Transport Regulator. It will be interesting to see how the Ports Authority will be included within this structure. Mbalula said that his department would be liaising with the Minister of Public Enterprises in this regard. The Department of Public Enterprises has already issued a tender for proposals to conduct a study on the impact that separating the Ports Authority from the State Owned Enterprise would have on Transnet.