Pretoria: The South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) is pushing plans to create a merchant navy.

The ambitious plan, which would lead to the building of 300 bulk cargo ships, including oil and chemical tankers, was announced during the third Sea Power for Africa Symposium in Cape Town.

South Africa last had a fully-fledged merchant navy in the 1990s.

The plan has taken many senior South African naval officers, including the Chief of the Navy, Vice-Admiral Johannes Mudimu, by surprise.

Many at the conference said it was the first they had heard of the project.

"If it works, it will be fantastic. It will mean that we can now become a real world player," said one officer.

More than $150 billion (R1.5 trillion) of South Africa's trade each year is by sea but, according to Samsa, only one cargo vessel registered in the country's name. It is the SA Oranje, which plies between South Africa and the US and is to retire in two years.

Announcing the shipbuilding plan, Samsa chief executive Tsietsi Mokhele said South Africa had been left with no choice.

"It is not something that we can twiddle our thumbs about. We have to do it and to do it now," he said.

"The more ships you have, the more power you have, and if South Africa is to continue on its growth path we are going to need more cargo ships. While the project will initially be slow, it will gain momentum through the building of Africa's biggest ship repair yard outside Richards Bay."

The shipyard has been proposed by the Chinese state-owned Harbour Engineering Company and South Africa's Imbani Consortium. It is to comprise two 260-metre drydocks and is expected to cost R2.5bn to build.

The consortium has been planning this since 2004 and is awaiting approval from the National Ports Authority to go ahead.

The project is believed to have funding from the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) and the government’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which have also expressed interest in the proposal to create a merchant navy.

It is understood that it is expected that the shipyard would create more than 4 000 permanent jobs and make an annual profit of nearly R300m.

Thousands more jobs would be created through the shipbuilding project.

Mokhele said 300 cargo vessels was not an overambitious figure for a merchant navy for South Africa. “We strongly believe (it) can be attained.”

A certain percentage of the ships would be flagged in South Africa’s name. This means the ships’ owners would be based in South Africa, the taxes from the vessels’ operations would be paid to the government and a certain number of South African seafarers would have to be trained at flag administration depots in the country every year.

“Although the current situation does not favour flagging vessels in South Africa’s name, the situation will be changed to make conditions favourable.

“We are looking at creating incentives around the taxing of vessels, as well as amending the Ship Registration Act to make it attractive to flag ships in South Africa.”

Mokhele said follow-up meetings would be held with the IDC and the private sector in October. Samsa would meet the IDC and the DBSA in June to discuss the shipbuilding project and its financing.

“By June we will have an idea of how much money the project will receive and when the building will begin,” he said. “The plan is to have a multitude of vessels, including oil and chemical tankers, as well as multipurpose cargo carriers. This project is part of South Africa’s maritime strategy, which will be enhanced by the shipbuilding and repair yard in Richards Bay.”

Mokhele said one of the biggest driving forces behind the building project was to create jobs.

“We believe this project will be the solution to South Africa’s unemployment problem, as there is a huge national and international need for seafarers.”