Southern African Shipyards is Africa’s leading commercial and naval shipbuilder and ship repairing company, providing cost effective services and solutions to the marine industry worldwide. The company has two divisions, Shipbuilding and Ship Repair. The Shipbuilding Division is capable of building vessels up to 150 meters in length and the Ship Repair Division equipped with key facilities and specialized technical expertise, has the capacity to undertake the entire works spectrum of in-voyage and in port repairs on all vessels.
The yard is located in Africa’s busiest port, the Port of Durban, on the east coast of Southern Africa. The yard is strategically positioned in Bayhead at the northern extremity of the KwaZulu-Natal Southern Industrial Basin and is well supported by a wide range of complementary industries.
The yard normally has 320 - 550 persons in its employ and when required can operate a dual-shift programme with the ship repair department working 24/7 whenever required. Southern Africa Shipyards is a fully Black Empowered company and is fully compliant with the latest South African labour legislation and is committed to Employment Equity and the upliftment of Previously Disadvantaged Individuals.
Current Achievements / Innovations
SA Shipyards is certified as an ISO 9001:2000 company and will be issued with ISO 9001:2008 next year.
SAS has delivered two of seven tugs, launched another with a further four under construction.
The two tugs delivered are 70 ton Bollard pull tugs but far exceeded this, achieving 80 tons pull on sea trials.
We are currently one of the largest builders of VoithSchneiderHarbour tugs in southern Africa.
The company has acquired a caisson-dock to facilitate the launching of our newly built tugs.
The shipyard has designed a unique, low cost 45 metre patrol vessel to help combat piracy in Africa and protect Africa’s marine resources. SAS sponsors and participates in the annual Sea Power for Africa Symposium that brings together all the Chiefs of African Navies. The objective of the symposium is to ensure a secure marine environment in order for Africa to continue to do business with the rest of the world.
SAS sponsors the annual SA Navy Golf Day helping to strengthen our ties with the South African Navy.
SAS continues to undertake major ship repair jobs.
Future Aims / Goals / Projects SAS is fast gaining a reputation as one of the leading shipyards in the world capable of building world-class Voith Schneider tugs. Our intention is to create a niche for ourselves within this market segment and dominate the world markets for Voith Schneider tugs.
The South African Navy has made known their intention to build naval vessels in the not too distant future for which we will definitely make a very serious bid when they become available, this based on our track record of building naval vessels for the South African Navy previously.
SAS is expanding into Africa by forging relationships on a joint venture basis with other countries, such as Nigeria and Angola. SAS also plans on establishing an Industrial Services division.
The recent acquisition of the floating dock will take our Ship Repair division to new heights.
These are the potential orders we are working on:
Social Responsibility SAS has adopted the Durban Children’s Home as our CSI Project of choice and has given them numerous donations and sponsorships and will endeavour to employ as many of the children from the home as possible when they leave school/ tertiary institutions.
SAS provides tours to schools, FETs and universities for students undertaking courses in mechanical engineering and maritime studies. The idea behind this project is to expose historically disadvantaged youth to a career opportunity they were not aware of as well as to assist in alleviating the current skills shortage.
SAS has embarked on an artisan training programme that is one of the largest in the province and at present has 35 apprentices of which 10 are Black females. SAS is involved in a joint partnership with the eThekwiniMunicipality who are sponsoring unemployed youth as apprentices. SAS intends to train up to 60 apprentices in the mechanical engineering field within a five year period. The first batch of apprentices is due to undergo their trade test this year through MERSETA (Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services SETA).
SAS has also initiated a project to provide in-service training to students of non-technical courses as part of the skills development programme.
There is a clinic on our premises that services not only our employees but also the neighboring companies. The clinic is staffed by a medical doctor who is a qualified occupational health practitioner, whose services include a wellness programme consisting of HIV testing, men’s clinic, drug abuse and other programs according to POHAWC profile.
A waste management programme and environmental awareness plan has also been effected.
Current Projects Shipbuilding: Building a series of seven VoithSchneiderHarbour tugs for Transnet National Port Authorities. In addition we are building a trawler for Lake Malawi.
Ship Repair: Numerous ship repair jobs are conducted constantly, having done work for Safmarine, Transnet National Port Authorities and numerous other large shipping lines.
MISSION To be the most profitable company in the paper, pulp and chemical cellulose sectors
Full Name of Company: Southern African Shipyards Nature of Business: Engineering and manufacturing Services / Products: Shipbuilding and ship repair Date Established: Originally started in 1993, officially restarted by new owners January 2006 Customer Base: Shipbuilding - Transnet, Transnet National Port Authority Ship repair - Numerous national and international ship owners and ships agents No. of Employees: 320 - 550 Auditors / Accountants: Aitken Lambert Elsworth Bankers: FNB BEE Status: Level 2 BEE Contributor. 60% BEE ownership. 12% of the company is owned by employees. Certification: ISO 9001: 2000. To be issued with ISO 9001: 2008 next year.
KEY PERSONNEL Group Chairman: Don Mkhwanazi Managing Director: Louis Gontier Chief Financial Officer: Prasheen Maharaj General Manager - Shipbuilding: Jurgen Cobarg Ship Repair Manager: Henry Hugo
