Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) on Friday launched the penultimate tug of its R1.4-billion, nine-tug construction contract.

The uMkhomazi tug, which means “place of cow whales” in Zulu, will serve at the Port of Durban. The moniker was given by the Zulus in reference to the large numbers of whales once using the estuary as a nursery and the name follows the port’s tradition of naming its marine fleet after local rivers.

All nine tugs are being built by Southern African Shipyards in Durban.

Southern African Shipyards on Friday also handed over the seventh tug, Usiba, which was named and launched in August, to TNPA. Usiba would now be delivered to the Port of Cape Town.

“One of the benefits of being a multiport authority running a complementary port system, is that we are able to pool our resources between our ports and to adjust plans where necessary.

“Originally, tugs in this order were planned for the ports of Durban, Richards Bay, Saldanha and Port Elizabeth, where the needs at the time were assessed as being the greatest,” said TNPA commercial and marketing GM Lauriette Sesoko.

“However, we have since taken the decision to redeploy Usiba from Richards Bay to Cape Town instead,” she added.

Sesoko explained that the Port of Cape Town had recently experienced an upsurge in larger vessels requiring tugs with a more powerful bollard pull.

Meanwhile, the Port of Richards Bay had already received three new tugs in recent years.

“TNPA has assessed and mitigated this risk to ensure that Richards Bay’s port operations are not compromised. In future orders where Cape Town is catered for, a tug will be reimbursed to the Port of Richards Bay,” she said.

Southern African Shipyards CEO Prasheen Maharaj commended TNPA for investing such confidence in a local company.

“This contract has had a major positive socioeconomic impact on the marine manufacturing value chain and created thousands of direct and indirect jobs. It has also resulted in the training of over 40 apprentice artisans during the construction period.

“In addition, it has stimulated industrial innovation and led to the development of prototype components that could be used widely in the maritime and industrial sectors in the future,” said Maharaj.