SOUTH African Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy has announced that the Department of Transport will push ahead with its plans to establish a national shipping line, but a University of Johannesburg researcher and sometime government consultant, thinks the scheme is sheer folly, reports Johannesburg's Moneyweb.
Twenty-five years ago there was a company called Safmarine, said transport economist Joachim Vermooten, 'which was effectively our national shipping carrier before it was sold to Maersk.
'There is no room for starting up a state-owned shipping company. We just can't generate the volumes to make it work - that's why Safmarine was sold,' he said.
Asked if South Africa should not control everything from the movement onshore, to how it is exported to trading partners?
Said Dr Vermooten: 'Because our Brics partners have shipping lines, I don't think that's a proper reason to do this.
The international shipping industry is a very, very large, and it operates similar to other network industries where you get economies of scope and scale.
'The real choice that we have is whether we want to be part of the world, the global type of economy, in which case we don't need a separate shipping company, or do we want to isolate ourselves - as has happened in the past - and in those circumstances you do need a shipping company because nobody will touch your goods.
'So under the current economic situation there is no room for state-owned shipping company. And when Safmarine was sold to Maersk, it grew, seven or eight times larger than it had been under government ownership,' Dr Vermooten said.
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Twenty-five years ago there was a company called Safmarine, said transport economist Joachim Vermooten, 'which was effectively our national shipping carrier before it was sold to Maersk.
'There is no room for starting up a state-owned shipping company. We just can't generate the volumes to make it work - that's why Safmarine was sold,' he said.
Asked if South Africa should not control everything from the movement onshore, to how it is exported to trading partners?
Said Dr Vermooten: 'Because our Brics partners have shipping lines, I don't think that's a proper reason to do this.
The international shipping industry is a very, very large, and it operates similar to other network industries where you get economies of scope and scale.
'The real choice that we have is whether we want to be part of the world, the global type of economy, in which case we don't need a separate shipping company, or do we want to isolate ourselves - as has happened in the past - and in those circumstances you do need a shipping company because nobody will touch your goods.
'So under the current economic situation there is no room for state-owned shipping company. And when Safmarine was sold to Maersk, it grew, seven or eight times larger than it had been under government ownership,' Dr Vermooten said.
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