So often, pointing a business in the right direction seems as difficult as turning one of those massive ultra-large container ships –400 m long (that’s the length of four rugby fields) – stacked higher than a ten-storey building.
But, once it starts turning, things start to fall in place. I saw this during the recent meetings the SBIDZ hosted with stakeholders, including the Western Cape Economic Development and Tourism Department, Transnet, and the Transnet National Port Authority.
We had very constructive conversations with the Deputy Minister of the Department of Trade, Industry & Competition (DTIC), Fikile Majola, who confirmed that the key needs within the industrial zone should be prioritised to “make a much-needed impact in growing the local economy” and making it possible to “address issues of unemployment, poverty, and transform our economy”.
As the Saldanha Bay Municipality Executive Mayor, André Truter, said, “all the local, regional and national stakeholders to be singing from the same hymn sheet”. And I think that by the end of the meetings, we were pretty much there.
It was especially reassuring to have the newly elected MEC for Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, be part of the networking and discussions. She said she was keen to see further commitments from local and international investors and to hear from the SBIDZ on how working together, we could overcome the “choke points” our investors and tenants face.
What was particularly gratifying for me was that for some time, we have been looking to rebrand the SBIDZ as “Freeport Saldanha” to reflect our value better. The board has accepted this.
Our vision remains: to be Africa’s premier maritime, energy and logistics freeport, offering to zone users and tenants a world-class integrated shipyard, engineering, fabrication, logistics and services in a freeport environment. There was a genuine sense from all involved that the winds had changed, and our ship had turned and was moving towards a brighter future. It will take time, but our course is firm.
