Daewoo Shipbuilding to Drop Anchor in SA?

Founded in South Korea in 1978, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has grown to become one of the world’s largest shipbuilding companies, with a workforce of 25 000 and a revenue of 8.75 billion US dollars. Top local shipping agents will be aware of Daewoo Shipbuilding’s growing business ties with South Africa, including their noteworthy decision last year to buy a 49% stake in Impinda Group. Impinda is owned by Khulubuse Zuma, nephew of President Jacob Zuma, and the group aims to partner with DMSE to ship raw materials – including oil and gas – around the African continent. 

Now SA’s sea freight industry is abuzz with the news that Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering hopes to establish a ship repair yard in South Africa. The Daewoo shipyard would be located next to Richards Bay Coal Terminal, on South Africa’s east coast, and could cost up to R 40 billion (the equivalent of 6 billion US dollars) to build. The DMSE shipyard would service the heavy shipping traffic passing through South African waters.

Representatives from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering will be arriving this week to meet with Government officials from the Department of Transport, to discuss the feasibility of constructing the shipyard. 

The vast majority of South Africa’s gross domestic product arrives by sea freight, with a small percentage arriving by air freight – but currently the country has no facilities available to service such large volumes of freight traffic. Both the South African Government and Daewoo Shipbuilding see a great deal of potential here, and many ships operating along the SA coast would benefit from comprehensive repair services provided by such an experienced company.

During the upcoming talks with the Department of Transport, Daewoo Shipbuilding representatives will be discussing access to land, ship registration requirements and agreements with the country’s major exporters. Industry leaders will be keeping a close eye on the outcome of these discussions.