A private shipping company would soon be formed with state backing to drive the new shipping line that would link South Africa, India and Brazil, a department of foreign affairs official said. The company was expected to boost the fast-growing trade between the three countries, said Jerry Matjila, the head of the department's Asia and Middle East desk. Matjila said the new firm would save the country a lot of money in foreign exchange. "We do not have a national shipping company, yet the biggest foreign exchange in South Africa is in shipping," Matjila said. "It will help other areas of the economy as well. Shipping has a lot of spill-overs because you need packaging, food, water, warehousing." Matjila would not divulge the private sector partners. Grindrod and Safmarine, South Africa's major shipping players, both said they were not involved in negotiations with the government regarding the new shipping line.
South Africa and India are close to signing a memorandum of understanding on the shipping line. The state-owned Indian Shipping Corporation will run the line from the Indian side.
Matjila said the line would also service east Africa, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Maputo.
The plan is a South African proposal under the India-Brazil-South Africa trilateral developmental initiative. "We are trying to build reliable connectivity and unlock the potential for more trade because the biggest problem … is the underdevelopment of our infrastructure," Matjila said.
Bidirectional trade between the three countries last year totalled more than R30 billion.
Vikas Swarup, the deputy high commissioner at the Indian embassy, said there would be more business if the connectivity between the three countries was greater. "Already trade between South Africa and India exceeds $4 billion [R26 billion] a year," Swarup said. "We want it to reach $15 billion by 2010 and we could even reach that before, [but] we need more capacity." Matjila said there were also plans to improve the aviation connectivity between the three countries.
They were looking at the possibility of having Air India flying to South Africa. "We used to have Air India in the 90s so there are discussions that it should come back. "I know that there are also talks between Jet Airways and South African private airlines, which are looking at the Johannesburg to New Delhi route," Matjila said.
He said negotiations with Brazil would follow after the Indian talks had concluded.
SAA's only flight to India lands in Mumbai.
On average, SAA flies between South Africa and India 10 times a week. It has 20 flights a week between South Africa and Brazil.
SAA spokesperson Robyn Chalmers said the state-owned airline was supportive of the government's proposed plans to increase air traffic between South Africa, Brazil and India.
"The airline is following the process carefully and is working closely with the department of transport," Chalmers said."SAA is particularly interested in further increasing its existing frequencies between Johannesburg and São Paulo, Brazil, one of the airline's most profitable destinations."
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