The South African boat-building industry has to grow the skills available to local manufacturers, while it must also work to attract global component manufacturers to local shores, says Ullman Sails International CEO Michael England.

England spoke at the African Boating Conference held in Cape Town this week.

England said the industry had to convince international component makers, such as composite manufacturers, to set up shop in South Africa, otherwise boat-builders would become increasingly reliant on costly imports from the US, EU and China.

“We need anyone we are buying from to be located here.”

England became CEO of Ullman Sails International in 2018.

Under his stewardship, the 7 000 m² Cape Town manufacturing facility, one of the world’s largest sailmaking lofts, was fully integrated under Ullman Sails ownership.

Ullman Sails has a presence in 25 countries through 75 sites, with Cape Town recognised as its largest production centre, employing around 120 people and with more than 100 000 sails produced in its history.

This facility, however, produces its sails from imported material.

England said the Ullman group would be interested in making the required cloth in South Africa, but that the lack of local skills was acting as a barrier to entry.

He said the South African boat-building industry had to develop a “proper training facility” as there was no other available educational track to foster the required skills.

He noted that this was a vital requirement for the South African boat-building industry to grow.

“We need to tell young people that this is a good way to earn a living.”

He added that it was also necessary to “get more people into the leisure boating market” in Africa as buyers, as the continent did not have a stable user base or history of leisure boating.

England also warned that the global boating market would most likely follow the recent development arc of the automotive industry, with China gunning to become a major player in the boat-building industry – which would increase competition, and pressure, in traditional boating markets.

Two Oceans Marine Manufacturing project office yacht consultant Nicole van de Wall echoed England’s statements on the need for training as she noted that there was a “huge rotation” of staff in the South African boating industry, while a significant part of the labour force was also unskilled.

In order to accommodate this lack of skills, it could be possible to develop automated factory-floor task prompts, guiding workers in detail to the next task, or to develop detailed step-by-step instruction manuals.

Cape Town’s exports of ships, boats and floating structures stood at around R4.3-billion in 2024, with imports at R1.8-billion.

The city’s dominant boating export product was yachts – pleasure vessels – at 96% of all boat exports in 2024, with this category expanding by 217% since 2015.