
Pretoria: 12 September 2022
Stakeholders in South Africa’s bunkering subsector have been given yet another opportunity to make comments on South Africa’s Codes of Practice for both bunkering and ship-to-ship transfers (cargo transfers), according to a joint statement issued by the State institutions charged with managing the process last week.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), the Department of Transport (DoT) and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) said they jointly issued the public invitation for further comment on South Africa’s set of Codes of Good Practice for Bunkering Services and Ship-To-Ship Transfers (Cargo Transfer) as part of a process towards their finalisation and publication.
The public call is contained in a Marine Information Notice (MIN 10-22) published on the SAMSA website on Thursday, 08 September 2022. The set of Codes of Practice comprise the South African Bunkering Code of Practice, and South African Ship to Ship Code of Practice for Cargo Transfers.
In the Notice, the public entities jointly state that the reason for the further call is to allow stakeholders an opportunity to make further inputs on the amended and consolidated set of draft Codes of Practices for both bunkering and cargo transfers. The sets of Codes have now been expanded to also cover specifically Ship to Ship Cargo Transfers.

In the joint statement on Thursday, the entities state: “A moratorium was put in place on the approval of any new permanent service providers in Algoa Bay and whose lifting would be conditional to the completion of the publication of the Codes of Practice, and the completion of an Environmental Risk Assessment by TNPA for Algoa Bay. The DOT, DFFE, SAMSA and TNPA opted to provide industry a combined code of practice where each entity’s approval requirements are consolidated in one place to allow the industry an easy reference guide for these types of operations.
“The codes also provide references to the various sections of legislation that are applicable for each government department and are aimed to show how the DFFE, TNPA and SAMSA aim to work together to approve these activities to ensure a unified approach. The Codes of Practises are not intended to remove any jurisdiction or duties from either the DFFE, TNPA or SAMSA to regulate the industry,” state the entities in the Notice.
According to the statement by SAMSA, TNPA, DFFE and DoT, stakeholders will have until 22 September 2022 to submit their comments. Stakeholders’ comments can be submitted to tsu@samsa.org.za
The final Codes will be submitted to the Department of Transport once completed, say the entities.
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