The first merchant vessel to be registered under the South African flag since 1985 arrived in Saldanha Bay last month to transport 170 000 t of iron-ore from mining giant Anglo American company Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine, in Kathu, in the Northern Cape, to China.

The Cape Orchid, a 300-m-long Japanese-built bulk carrier, is owned by South African operator Vuka Marine, a joint venture between South Africa’s Via Maritime Holdings and Japan’s K-Line.

The vessel is registered in Port Elizabeth. Vuka Marine currently has two South African-flagged, Capesize vessels – the Cape Orchid and the Cape Enterprise.

While in Saldanha Bay, the Cape Orchid will take on several South African cadets, who will sail with the ship for six months as part of their officer training programme.

Vuka Marine chairperson Andrew Mthembu notes that it is important for South Africa to attract ships onto its register to improve job creation and training prospects for South African seafarers. The country has experienced a decline in its merchant fleet since the mid-1990s.

Meanwhile, South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) CEO Tsietsi Mokhele has congratulated Vuka Marine on being the first local company to register ships in South Africa in recent times. He adds that the country’s status as a maritime nation has been undermined by its lack of a merchant fleet.

As such, Samsa has prioritised a programme of action to reverse this trend through initiatives such as government’s Operation Phakisa, which seeks to attract ships onto the national register as a key aspect of achieving job growth and economic development in the country’s oceans economy.

Mokhele notes that about 95% of South Africa’s international trade moves through the country’s ports, adding that buying exclusively from foreign shipowners and seafarers, where this can be done competitively by local operators, is creating an economic cost in South Africa.

Kumba CEO and Anglo American South Africa deputy chairperson Norman Mbazima says the companies were proud to witness this historic moment for South Africa, and that they were the Cape Orchid’s first customer.

“Vuka Marine has achieved a key milestone for this country and we look forward to a strong partnership, as it is through partnerships of this nature that [we are able to] support job creation and the growth of South Africa’s economy,” he concludes.