The Maritime Business Chamber (MBC) has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to prioritise South Africa’s maritime sector in his upcoming 2026 State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on February 12, following the country’s return to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council for the 2026/27 biennium.

The MBC described the restored seat on the council as a pivotal opportunity to modernise infrastructure, support small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) and position South Africa as a leading hub for ship repairs, offshore energy and maritime services along the Cape Route.

In an open letter addressed to Ramaphosa on February 10, the MBC emphasised that global maritime trade patterns, energy routes and port logistics are shifting rapidly, presenting a rare strategic opportunity for South Africa.

“Over the past few years, the chamber expressed its views, areas of concerns and [has pleaded] with the government [to prioritise] matters towards the development of a sustainable maritime industry in South Africa,” the MBC said.

It urged the finalisation and release of the Transport Sector Codes, particularly for maritime, as the industry remains one of the non-transformed sectors, while being a key contributor to economic growth.

The MBC highlighted that South Africa has nearly 3 900 km of coastline and one of the largest exclusive economic zones in Africa, yet maritime activities are often addressed in fragments, reduced largely to port congestion issues.

According to the MBC, the broader maritime economy includes ship design and repairs, shipbuilding and manufacturing, offshore energy, fishing, aquaculture, bunkering, and related support services. Bunkering, it noted, represents an ecosystem of marine services with the potential to expand SMME participation if properly enabled.

The MBC warned that ageing port infrastructure, a lack of small harbour development, operational inefficiencies, congestion and regulatory delays constrain growth, particularly for SMMEs operating in ship design and repairs, maritime engineering, shipyards, dry dock operations, terminal-related services and logistics support.

Globally, the ship repairs and maintenance market is expanding as vessels transition to greener fuels, digital systems, and stricter safety standards, requiring more frequent surveys, retrofits, underwater inspections, mechanical repairs, fuel system modifications and environmental compliance upgrades.

“This puts us at an advantage, as South Africa is ideally positioned to become the leading ship repair hub on the Cape Route,” the MBC stated.

It cautioned however, that without deliberate infrastructure upgrades, streamlined port access and modernised shipyard and dry dock capacity, vessels will continue to bypass South African ports for competing jurisdictions.

The recent decision by Compagnie Maritime d’Affrètement – Compagnie Générale Maritime, one of the world’s largest shipping lines, to increasingly use the Cape of Good Hope route presents a significant opportunity for South African ports, potentially increasing vessel traffic requiring repairs, surveys, technical services and greater shipyard capacity.

The MBC also raised concerns that South Africa’s offshore oil and gas potential remains stalled, not owing to lack of investor interest, but owing to continuous litigation, regulatory uncertainty and environmental challenges, which have redirected capital to Namibia and Mozambique.

It therefore called for a coordinated national stance and streamlined regulatory pathway.

In the fishing sector, the MBC noted that small-scale fishers continue to be hampered by inadequate infrastructure and landing sites, and exclusion from commercial value chains, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. The MBC pointed out that finalising long-term fishing rights appeals could enable fishing vessel recapitalisation, local boat building, and stimulation of marine manufacturing.

The chamber also regrets that maritime responsibilities in South Africa are currently fragmented across multiple departments and entities, resulting in regulatory inconsistency, institutional overlap, inefficient enforcement and delayed decision-making.

The MBC urged the establishment of either a dedicated maritime authority with full economic, safety, environmental and industrial mandate, or a centralised coordinating mechanism treating maritime as a single economic sector rather than scattered functions.

The MBC said developments along the Cape Route, offshore energy, fishing rights allocation and global shipping decarbonisation presented a unique convergence of opportunity.

It therefore recommended that Ramaphosa’s upcoming SoNA recognise maritime as a national economic priority extending beyond ports and Transnet, acknowledge the need to modernise shipyards and dry dock infrastructure, support marine SMMEs, clarify national policy on offshore oil and gas development, integrate small-scale fishers into the commercial economy, accelerate maritime regulatory reform, and address institutional fragmentation.

The MBC said that it was ready to support government in translating these opportunities into practical programmes that create jobs, enable SMME inclusion, and grow the maritime sector’s contribution to South Africa’s GDP.