44 AUGUST–SEPTEMBER 2019 | International Boat Industry ibinews.com
Markets & Regions
OVERVIEW | SOUTH AFRICA
Big cat country – ready to go Leopards in Cape Grace
Marina, Cape TownLand of the big cat
WHILE CATAMARANS ARE NOT THE ONLY PLEASURE BOATS BUILT IN
SOUTH AFRICA, THE MARKET IS CLEARLY DOMINATED BY CRUISING CATS- BOTH BIG AND SMALL, POWER AND SAIL
WORDS: PHIL DRAPERS
outh Africa really is the land of the
multihull – or, more specifically, the cruising
catamaran. Of course, cats are not the
only pleasure boats built in South Africa, but
whereas you can count the former well into three
figures, the latter sector is in low double digits.
South African builders should deliver around 165
sailing catamarans in the 40ft-85ft range this year,
which translates to 13% of a world market presently
worth around 1,260 units per annum. The top-line
number tells us things have never been better. But
the reality is that one player, Robertson & Caine, is
responsible for the lion’s share. The others are at
best building no more than a handful of boats a year,
whereas when we last looked at the market there
were a couple of others consistently delivering more
than 10 boats a year. The country’s boatbuilding
activity really reflects the transportation issues of
getting product from the bottom of the world to the
major boating markets in the north. SA yards tend
to build either small boats and RIBs that can fit into
freight containers, or medium-size boats and yachts
from 12m-30m (33ft-110ft) that can be delivered on
their own bottoms. But increasingly some leave
the county as deck cargo; for example, delivering
powercats on their own bottoms is problematic
owing to the distances between fuel stops. Thehealth of yacht charter markets and the bluewater
cruising sector impacts much of this industry.
SA boats do indeed go all over the world, but the
majority end up in the USA or Caribbean.
On the big yacht side, two South African yards
really stand out. Over the past 27 years Southern
Wind has delivered no fewer than 54 monohull
sailing yachts from 72ft-110ft, and it has three more
currently in build from 96ft-105ft, plus it recently
revealed its first super-sail cat concept. Among
innumerable smaller projects, Two Oceans Marine,
which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary,
has delivered 11 60ft-110ft cats since 2011, a mix of
power and sail and with an impressive average of
76ft; plus it has two more 85-footers presently under
construction.
A mature boatbuilding nation with decades of
experience, South Africa’s build quality is generally
good and prices are keen, especially with the
rand as weak as it is currently. The last time
this author researched a South African Business
Report for this magazine was in 2006 when there
were almost R7 to the US dollar. Today a US dollar
buys R14. It was at its weakest in recent times in
early 2016 when a dollar briefly bought R16.3. Such
volatility does not help anyone make decisions.
While a weak rand undoubtedly helps exports, it also
undermines competitiveness as regards the import
of materials and original equipment, particularly
engines and hardware. Aluminium spars and sails are
produced in volume in Cape Town, but even those
manufacturers have to import a lot of bare tubes and
sailcloth. Yes, labour is cheap. And despite the fact
that unemployment is approaching 30%, skills are in
short supply.
Certainly South Africa’s economy is under
pressure. The ANC’s Cyril Ramaphosa, who took
over as president from the resigning Jacob Zuma
in February 2018, was re-elected president in the
general election of May 2019, albeit with his party’s
lowest-ever majority. He has colossal challenges, not
least high inflation and an economic growth rate
that has remained below 2% since 2013. Moreover,
the first quarter of 2019 saw major power outages