SHIPBUILDING and maritime solutions company Nautic Africa, based in Cape Town, has been awarded contracts worth more than R600m to build seven "multi-role" patrol vessels for West African clients.
The 35m "fast vessels" will be the first in their class to be designed and built in South Africa.
The deal will see Nautic Africa creating about 100 jobs over the next two years in the Cape Town area.
The company has already laid keels on two of the vessels, with three to follow in July. It expects to make its first deliveries in 2014 and to complete the contract early in 2015.
According to the Western Cape provincial government, boat-building is a competitive and fast-growing sector of the provincial economy. It generates more than R1bn for the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) each year and creates employment for more than 2,500 residents.
Nautic Africa’s deal to build the vessels came about largely because of the company’s collaboration with West African navies, as well as oil and gas companies, to develop an effective way of counteracting illegal fishing, piracy and other illicit offshore activities.
Nautic Africa CEO James Fisher said on Monday that the deal reflected the confidence customers had in the company.
"The orders reflect our customers’ confidence in our ability to deliver solutions-based products, coupled with unparalleled on-the-ground service and support," he said.
Mr Fisher said the new "fast-patrol" vessels would have the capability of much larger, more expensive vessels. They will use the Nautic "Super Shield" ballistic protection system, which was developed in South Africa, and be sold for a multitude of roles, including as fast deployable interceptor vessels.
"The majority of territorial water offshore threats are from largely indistinguishable craft less than 12m in length," Mr Fisher said.
"The (fast deployable interceptor vessels), which are deployable in minutes, enhance the patrol effectiveness of offshore assets and enable personnel to communicate with small fishing boats and make arrests at sea level. This makes policing safer and more effective."
He said there were concrete plans for the expansion of Nautic Africa’s second West African base, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, which would focus exclusively on vessel lifecycle support and servicing. The company already has a base in Takoradi, Ghana.
The company said to ensure that its workforce had the skills to meet the global standards expected by its clients, it would embark on an "aggressive" apprenticeship programme to train fabricators, welders and general artisans.
Earlier this year Western Cape Finance, Economic Development and Tourism MEC Alan Winde conducted a site visit of boat-building factories in the Western Cape, including Nautic Africa.
Mr Winde said while the industry had been hit hard by the economic downturn, industry bodies were optimistic that the sector was on track to achieve 10% growth by 2015, a goal set in 2008.
About 60% of commercial boat builders in South Africa are based in the Western Cape.
