For more details on on the seminar, please find summarized papers presented by the various speakers.

John Hare – Report on Nautical Institute Seminar – April 2013

The first real day of spring in Gauteng arrived on Sunday, 30 September.  Following on to the usual late September cold snap, it was a glorious dayduring which a horde of picnickers and day visitors took the opportunity of a visit to the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in Roodepoort.

 Amongst them were thirty-two members and partners attending the annual Spring Luncheon of the South African Training Ship General Botha Old Boys’ Association. The General Botha, which in the latter stages of it’s life in Granger Bay, Cape Town, was known as the South  African Merchant Navy Academy’ closed down in 1986 with the demise of the South African Merchant Navy. The institution is now chiefly remembered in the form of the giant GB and anchor on the mountain side above Gordon’s Bay in the Cape. The present day Naval College adjoining the harbour there was once the site of the General Botha and the mountainside GB commemorates that, although many people think that it signifies the town of Gordon’s Bay nestled below.

 The ex-cadets of the General Botha are scattered world wide in keeping with their seafaring training but surprisingly enough there is an active branch of ex-cadets many miles from the nearest sea in Johannesburg. Most of them are now either pensioners or past middle age but still meet regularly twice a year to keep in touch and reminisce. This is becoming increasingly difficult as the rising cost of living and inflation cuts in to fixed pensions and makes eating out an expensive luxury for elderly people. In a spontaneous gesture of maritime solidarity, however, the MLA stepped in to enable this function to take place, in the form of a generous sponsorship, which covered most of what would have been an expensive day out.

 A most appreciative group thus arrived at the gardens to find a state of minor chaos as people battled to find parking and queued at the entrance gate to get in. Once in to the idyllic setting, it was a pleasant stroll to the restaurant and an excellent buffet lunch in a beautiful setting. The standard of catering was excellent, as was the service, and care was taken when proposing a toast to “The Ship” to thank the MLA, a gesture which brought a round of applause.

 A most enjoyable time was had by all and even well into the afternoon there was a distinct reluctance to get up and leave such a sociable occasion. When members finally started leaving many of them then took the opportunity for a stroll through the Garden as the perfect end to a lovely spring function.                

The General Botha Old Boys Association recently held a Spring Luncheon of which the MLASA contributed as a sponsor.

Please see the report on the luncheon:  Sponsorship MLA

Photo Gallery :

The MLASA has pleasure in announcing that another outstanding and well supported Annual Conference and AGM was held at the Shelley Point Hotel from the 14 to the 16 September 2012.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

After the traditional opening welcome from the Cape Chapter President Mr Gavin Fitzmaurice, attendees were truly privileged to receive what can be described as a profound and thought provoking opening address from Mr Justice Malcolm Wallace, Appeal Court Judge at our Supreme Court of Appeal. A copy of his keynote address can be found at Malcolm Wallis keynote address

FRIDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2012 – DINNER

The keynote address was followed by a scrumptious dinner around the picturesque pool area where delegates had an opportunity to meet up with old friends and colleagues, and catch up on the latest scuttlebutt. 

 SATURDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2012

Due to the current southern hemisphere rugby championships, the conference only kicked off at 11:30am on the Saturday. After a disastrous Springbok performance, delegate’s moods were soon distracted with another series of excellent MLASA papers.

The first panel discussion was in respect of Ports / Places of Refuge with convenor Advocate James Mackenzie and panelists Captain Dave Colley, Captain Mike Brophy, Patrick Holloway, Gavin Fitzmaurice and Edmund Greiner. The power point presentations given under this discussion can be viewed below:

Mr Patrick Holloway – Places of Refuge

Mr Gavin Fitzmaurice – Refuge – SA Ports

Mr Edmund Greiner – Greiner places of refuge

Thereafter the session before lunch was led by none other than Professor John Hare of the University of Cape Town, where a discussion was held in respect of Wreck Removal and inter alia the position of P and I clubs on this matter.

The after lunch session commenced with a thorough paper presented by Mr Ian Mclean of Hill Dickinson Solicitors of the UK headed “The Titanic and 100 years of casualty investigation”. Of great interest to delegates was the fact that Hill Dickinson were the solicitors who in fact represented the owners of the Titanic after the infamous sinking. A copy of Mr Maclean’s presentation is at  Ian Maclean presentation

Now a regular speaker at MLA conferences, Professor Henri Fouche of UNISA gave the next presentation updating us on the current piracy situation from an African perspective. His presentation can be viewed at PIRACY – AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

Continuing on the piracy issue Mr Jonathan Webb, a partner at Holman Fenwick Willan Solicitors of London (and we are proud to say a born and bred South African), gave an update on the piracy issue from a London perspective. Jonathan’s paper can be viewed at Jonathan Webb

The day’s conference presentation sessions ended with a fascinating analysis by local economist Dr Pieter van Aswegen on “Global Economic Swells and Shipping Fortunes”. This was a first for MLA, with delegates being mostly lawyers receiving a crash course on economics using the break bulk carriers and container lines as case studies. Dr van Aswegen’s presentation can be viewed at Pieter van Aswegen Marlaw

After a gloomy economic forecast, pre-dinner drinks at the pool area could not have come sooner.

TITANIC GALA DINNER IN FAVOUR OF HONOREE PROFESSOR JOHN HARE

By far the most significant and important matter of the conference was the honoring of Professor John Hare at the Titanic themed gala dinner. After guests had recovered from elegant, original and some off the wall fancy dress outfits, the outgoing President of the MLA Advocate Michael Wragge SC gave a warm welcome to crew and passengers alike.

The proverbial “iceberg” event of the evening was the address given by Advocate Gys Hofmeyer SC as a tribute to Professor John Hare. Whilst having the audience in stitches at times, Advocate Hofmeyer SC explained in no uncertain terms the titanic role that Professor John Hare had played and continues to play in positioning South Africa as a first world maritime law jurisdiction. The tribute was followed by a standing ovation with ongoing applause for a man who has put his heart and soul into developing maritime law in South Africa.

Professor John Hare with his usual grace and humility accepted the tribute taking us back to his initial days of practice and closing with a look to the future and what needs to be done to keep South Africa as a leading maritime law nation.

A letter of thanks from Professor John Hare can be viewed at John Hare thanks for Shelly Point

Other than the formalities of the evening, the gala dinner was a great time for passengers and crew to unwind before the inevitable. Herewith some photos of the Friday night dinner and Saturday gala dinner:

SUNDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2012

The first paper presented on the Sunday morning was by Mr P Jeya Putra and Magdalene Chew of Asia Legal LLC, a law firm in Singapore. We were honoured for the first time to have maritime lawyers from Singapore giving a presentation at the conference. Their presentation indicated a sophisticated and well-oiled admiralty jurisdiction where surprisingly the lawyers serve the arrest papers on vessels rather than the sheriff. A copy of their paper headed “Singapore – Arrest Procedure, Peculiarities and Pitfalls” will be posted on the website shortly.

The final discussion of the conference prior to the AGM was the more contentious issue of the Sheriff’s proposed amendments to Admiralty Rule 4. The session was convened by Professor John Hare with panelists Shane Dwyer, Andre Bowley and Peter Edwards contributing.

AGM

After a short tea and coffee break the AGM of the MLASA was conducted with great efficiency as most of the sub-committee reports had already been submitted prior to the conference weekend. A sad note was the resignation of Anisa Govender as the MLA’s secretary. Anisa has been an extremely reliable source of efficiency and dedication for many years on the MLA Exco. Another sad moment was Advocate Mike Wragge SC coming to the end of his tenure as MLA president.

Looking forward, however, the new Exco team elected are as follows: President: Malcolm Hartwell (Durban), Vice President: James Mackenzie (Cape Town), Secretary: Edmund Greiner (Cape Town), Treasurer: Colin Shaw (Durban), with general Exco committee members being: Patrick Holloway (Cape Town), Peter Edwards (Cape Town), Norma Wheeler (Durban), Janine Lee (Durban), and Roy Martin (Durban).

The minutes of the 2012 AGM together with the President’s report, Chapter reports and sub-committee reports will be posted on the website shortly.

In closing, a hearty vote of thanks to the Cape Chapter under the able navigation of Gavin Fitzmaurice and the conference organisers Wedgewood for organising yet another successful and memorable MLASA annual conference.

on Friday l9 October at 2:15 pm in the Jade Ballroom B & C in the Kempinski Hotel, Beijing.

Bundle of documents and Agenda

Click on the links to view the paper and power point presentation.

Address at SAMIC 2012      

SAMIC presentation.final

From the 4 to the 6 July 2012 the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) on behalf of the Minister of Transport, Mr Dikobe Ben Martins hosted the South African Maritime Industry Conference (SAMIC) at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

The goal of the conference was to bring together role players from the various sectors of the maritime industry and policy / decision makers from relevant government departments. One of the main ideas of the conference was to engage on and put together a strategic plan to prioritise the maritime industry in South Africa so as to take full advantage of the economic development opportunities which remain untapped. In a sense it was a brain storming conference with input from various sectors of the industry inter alia Oil and Gas, Shipping and Logistics, Marine Tourism and Fishing.

The opening session of the conference and the facilitation of the conference was done by Mr Chris Gibbons, broadcaster and public speaker. After a welcome by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on transport, Ruth Bhengu, the keynote speaker was none other than the Minister of Transport Mr Dikobe Ben Martins who gave a very promising address on the role and potential of the maritime industry in South Africa.

The first presentation was given by Mr Marlon Rono of Fairmont, a company in the Philippines. The presentation was meant to be a comparative look at the Philippines model of maritime economy from an emerging country’s perspective.

Thereafter, was a very well put together presentation by Professor Patrick Vrancken of the Public Law Department of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University which presentation was headed “A local perspective on the framework for a competitive and job creating maritime economy”. I will arrange for the paper to be circulated to members shortly.

Before lunch a panel discussion was held with prominent members of the various sectors of the maritime industry, namely:

• Mining: Mr Zolani Makwanazi, president of the Chamber of Mines and Chairman of BHB Billiton SA;

• Ship Owners: Mr Andrew Thomas, CEO Ocean Africa Container Lines Vessel;

• Vessel Construction: Dr Brian Gowans, director and principal engineer, Yacht Technology (Pty) Ltd;

• Oil and Gas: Mr Stefan Hrabar, founding member and director of South African Oil and Gas Alliance;

• Transnet Ports: Mr Brian Molefe;

• Marine Tourism and Leisure: Mr Greene, CEO Waterfront SA, COO MSC Cruises International;

• Fishing: Mr Tim Redell, chairperson Fish South Africa;

• Maritime Law: none other than Mr Gavin Fitzmaurice.

In the afternoon panel discussions were held on Funding and Finance with speakers from the IDC, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Nepad, and other speakers.

The day was closed by Commander Tsietsi Mokhele, CEO of SAMSA.

Day two was dominated by the subsector conferences / brain storming sessions where the delegates were divided into:

1. Shipping Ports and Logistics;

2. Marine Manufacturing;

3. Fishing and Aquaculture;

4. Marine Tourism and Leisure; and

5. Oil and Gas.

Each of these subsector conferences in turn highlighted the main issues that required dealing with and the potential which each sector could achieve going forward. This was then summarised and presented at a plenary session later in the afternoon, and at the same time all parties thereto pledged their commitment to performing on the action plans developed during the subsector conferences. The conference then closed in the late afternoon with a chairperson’s dinner held at the CTICC that evening. This was very well attended and was highlighted by an emotional and sincere address by Commander Tsietsi Mokhele of SAMSA.

The third day started off with Professor John Hare addressing the question “Why the need for a national tonnage?”. A power point of John’s paper and some thoughts John put together after the conference which he has forwarded to SAMSA is attached hereto, together with an article which he published in the Cape Times on the 8 August 2012. Thereafter, very interesting presentations were given by the Registrar of South African Ships, Mr Sam Nkosi, and representatives from the Nigerian Shipping and Cabotage industry and administration as well as a case study from the Regional Maritime Bank given by Mr Alain Michel Luvambano.

After lunch on the third day the symposium was divided into groups and panel discussions were facilitated to identify short, medium and long-term projects and goals. In the closing session the short, medium and long-term goals were summarized and presented and a commitment was given by all to achieving such goals. The conference then closed with a further sincere and emotional address by Commander Tsietsi Mokhele of SAMSA who committed to setting up a meeting between industry players, the Minister of Transport and President Jacob Zuma in order to elevate issues in the Maritime Industry.

The MLA Cape Chapter is currently in the process of preparing for this year’s AGM and Conference. The 2012 MLSA AGM and Conference will be held from 14 – 16 Septemer 2012 at Shelley Point Hotel Spa & Country Club in St Helena Bay, Western Cape.

For further information please click here ….  MLA Conference invitation  / Booking information