City hosts captains of the boat building sector

Statement by the City’s Mayco Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, Alderman James Vos

The City of Cape Town hosted representatives of the boat building sector at a business breakfast this morning, 3 April 2019. The sector engagement session was well attended by the captains of the boat building sector and ancillary service providers.

It was an honour for me to host the boat building community as part of our first sector engagement under the banner of Invest Cape Town.

It also gives me great pleasure to announce that the City is currently exploring the best possible ways to support the industry and how to best address challenges such as skills development and access to land.

The City is keen to support sectors such as the boat building sector to facilitate accelerated economic growth, job creation and economic inclusion through skills development.

In fact, during our recent mission to the United States, we collaborated with SABBEX/Boating South Africa and the South African Embassy to promote Cape Town’s boat building sector at the Miami International Boat Show.

It was a highly successful mission that ticked all the right boxes and we are pursuing the following potential leads:

To attract more boat manufacturing opportunities to Cape Town that are geared to the European market

To secure new orders for catamarans to give the local manufacturers a welcome boost

To forge closer ties with the American boat show organisers

We are continuing our support and understanding of Cape Town’s boat building economy through research and support.

We have commissioned research into the boat building economy that will be completed in May 2019. This will give us a clearer picture on how best to intervene in the 11 subsectors for better growth, job creation, training and sustainability.

Boat building is an important sector to the local economy and we see Cape Town as the hub for the sector in South Africa. About 85% of all national boat builders are located in the Western Cape, with the bulk of the industry being based in and around the metro.

Cape Town sector grew by 28,8% since 2012

Cape Town’s boat building industry has grown by 28,8% year-on-year since 2012. The industry exports 90% of the products produced and attracts a positive trade balance of about US$73 million (over R1 billion) annually.

This is the primary reason why we have undertaken the research project together with SABBEX and academics at the University of Cape Town to get a better understanding of the boatbuilding economy in Cape Town.

According to SABBEX, the boat building industry is worth R1,4 billion annually while its estimated ocean sports can bring in R1,2 billion per year.

Some 200 cruising yachts pass around the Cape annually

Every year close to 200 cruising yachts pass around the Cape from the Indian Ocean en-route to the Caribbean. This cruising community is very close knit and positive sentiment spreads fast. Therefore, it is important for all of us to work together to tap into this market.

We know that investors look for a clean government partner that is reliable and provides an enabling environment for businesses to develop, grow and create jobs.

In Cape Town, we also know that just providing clean governance and basic services is not enough. We are proactively assisting with skills development and the expansion of key catalytic sectors that are positioned to grow and stimulate job creation.

It is an opportunity for the sector to talk directly to us about challenges they may face and how the City government can create a more enabling environment for the industry to grow.

Let us work together to make Cape Town the go-to city for investment, economic growth and most importantly job creation for residents.

More about Invest Cape Town

Invest Cape Town is an initiative by the City to strengthen and promote Cape Town’s status as a high-performance, African business hub that supports big ideas and innovation. Its mission is to attract and retain foreign direct investment, which is of strategic importance to the economic development of Cape Town. Work is done with local and international entrepreneurs, small-, medium- and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) and multinationals wishing to set up a business in Cape Town.

Successful city economies take a pro-active approach to identifying sectors that are globally competitive and that display growth potential.

Cape Town is a forward-looking globally competitive city that is open for business and offers great opportunities for industries.

Source: City Of Cape Town

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