BlueCape partnership to support businesses in oceans economy

26th April 2021 By: Schalk Burger - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Marine economy public-private partnership organisation BlueCape will support businesses in the oceans economy, remove barriers to entry and support skills development and transformation for job creation in the Cape Town V&A Waterfront, says founding director Bruce Tedder.

BlueCape is a collaborative partnership founded by the V&A Waterfront and the City of Cape Town to unlock value in the oceans economy by focusing on three key marine industries – marine manufacturing, small-board plus ocean sports, and superyachts.

“The V&A Waterfront is a vital part of the blue or oceans economy in the city. South Africa’s oceans are a vast, but limited, natural resource that needs to be carefully managed for future generations. With proper support, innovation and good environmental management, our oceans have every potential to generate significant growth, positively impact gross domestic product and help meet the country’s urgent job-creation and skills development requirements in a sustainable manner.”

The BlueCape partnership will work with national and provincial governments, organisations such as Wesgro and Invest Cape Town, as well as industry bodies and organisations in the three marine industries. It will also look to dismantle existing barriers to entry by providing more open access, support skills development, transformation, job creation and create economic opportunities for the marine industry to thrive.

“Internationally, the oceans economy is a sector that provides opportunity for economic growth, and Cape Town and the Western Cape are well positioned to benefit from this,” V&A Waterfront CEO David Green says.

BlueCape forms a critical part of the V&A’s Ocean Cluster, which is based at the V&A Waterfront and facilitates collaboration between all oceans economy tenants and other stakeholders to create an inspirational example of inclusivity and sustainability in the blue oceans economy.

“The founding of BlueCape brings together a specific focus to three exciting areas of the overall oceans economy. All of these are currently present in some form within the V&A Waterfront.

"BlueCape will enable and encourage opportunity to make more productive and sustainable use of our oceans and to create inclusive business opportunities in these industries. Further, BlueCape will spearhead innovation in new marine sector developments,” he adds.

The V&A Waterfront, in collaboration with BlueCape, is also exploring the feasibility of developing an Oceans Economy Hub at the Waterfront that could provide a physical space for all three BlueCape focus sectors.

“We envisage that this hub will provide a dedicated innovation, event, skills development, networking and co-working space for the marine manufacturing sector and other sectors of the blue oceans economy,” Green notes.

Marine manufacturing is key to developing the oceans economy. Cape Town is home to almost 70% of the local boat-building industry within South Africa and offers world-class technical skills to service all types of ocean-going craft. By 2019, the value generated by boat building had reached about R2.2-billion, but that does not take into account manufacturing and supply of parallel goods such as surfboards, kites, sailing apparel and wetsuits.

The city is also an attractive destination because of its well-maintained infrastructure, including roads, airport and facilities. Added to this, it provides access to vessel maintenance specialists and suppliers of fuel and food, while the V&A Waterfront offers good berthing and access to leisure activities.

“The sector is supported through repair and commissioning facilities at East Quay in the Waterfront, together with the Transnet-run dry dock and Syncrolift repair hub and vessel launching facility also located within the Waterfront. BlueCape will seek to attract other new international events for Cape Town, such as the World Marinas Conference and Seatrade International,” Green points out.

Further, Cape Town is an ideal location for superyachts, as, in addition to being a spectacular location for tourism and sightseeing, it offers all the required replenishment facilities, together with comprehensive maintenance and repair support the boats need.

Superyachts have periodically berthed at the V&A Waterfront over the last 20 years, with some making regular appearances; however, over the past few years, there has been growing interest in Cape Town as a port [for such vessels] and BlueCape is looking to drive significant growth in this sector.

“Data provided on the size of the superyacht market differ, but there were somewhere close to 6 786 superyachts in 2019. The global superyacht market represents an estimated business volume of $26-billion, 54% of which is concentrated in Europe. Data provided on market growth differ, growing from a predicted about 2% and 5% annual compound growth rate. Cape Town is well positioned to support new regions as a hub for superyachts, especially for yachts of more than 60 m.”

“While concierge and support services are available, the V&A Waterfront is reviewing development plans for a potential superyacht hub at Quay 7. This will support entrepreneurial innovation, as well as the Superyacht Training Academy adjacent to the Synchrolift,” Green says.

BlueCape will market Cape Town as a stopover to key international industry events and is working collaboratively to develop standards for providing support services to Superyachts, Tedder adds.

Meanwhile, Cape Town and the V & A Waterfront are well established as a host port for some of the premier international yacht races such as The Volvo Ocean Race, and the Clipper Round the World Race, and other renowned yacht races such as the TP52 Super Series, the Cape2Rio.

“BlueCape will lend support to and focus on the enormously popular and growing ocean sports areas including competitive kite surfing, windsurfing, open water swimming, surf lifesaving, kayaking, surfing, sports fishing, scuba diving and other emerging ocean sports.

“Ocean sport events are part of a larger vision of what the potential oceans economy can and should look like for Cape Town, the Western Cape, and South Africa. This, and other oceans economy plans, will receive our full support,” Green says.