[ Meehan Outlines South Africa’s Shipping Potential ]

South Africa is poised to create exciting new opportunities for the sh
ipping industry through a number of impending legislative and financia
l initiatives.
Mike Meehan, managing director of Clifton Shipping Investments, has po
inted to the potential for growth which exists in possible port privat
isation and commercialisation of the department of transport’s direct
orate of shipping alterations to the country’s flag registration act,
changes to the Admiralty Jurisdiction Registration Act, an initiative
to substitute a tonnage tax for normal income tax, and the withdrawal
of foreign exchange control.
Alterations to the flag registration act would make the country’s shi
pping register more user-friendly, while the AdmiraltyJurisdiction Reg
istration Act changes should give a more commercially acceptable ranki
ng to mortage bonds.
Mr. Meehan says that, if these opportunities can be seized, South Afri
ca will have the opportunity to gain a higher percentage of approximat
ely $850 million-worth of freight on its bulk trades which are control
led offshore. This income could be earned by either new or existing So
uth African operators and/or shipowners, who would find themselves ope
rating in a much friendlier shipping environment.
Mr. Meehan also notes that possible changes in legislation could be of
benefit to the legal community, which would habe the potential to inc
rease its scope of work beyond the current narrow focus centered on sh
ip arrests. He adds that there would be better opportunities to conduc
t arbitrations in South Africa, and to establish the country as an arb
itration base for the whole of Africa.
Mr Meehan chaired the recent “Promoting Opportunities in Africa”conf
erence held in Cape Town, which emphasised the importance of South Afr
ica to the shipping community and which attracted a large number of in
ternational speakers, including current IACS chairman Tor-Christian Ma
thieson.