Moratorium on ship-to-ship bunkering to stay in place

● Conservationists welcome hold put on new operators in Algoa Bay pending environmental risk assessment

The moratorium on ship-toship transfer (STS) bunkering operators will stay in place until an environmental risk assessment has been performed.

The news comes after Algoa Bay Conservation issued a formal complaint with the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) and the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) on March 16, questioning its earlier decision to lift the licensing moratorium on new operators for Algoa Bay.

On March 28, Kirsten Youens of AllRise served a letter on maritime safety, the ports authority and the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment asking for reasons why they intended awarding new or more licences without performing a comprehensive environmental risk assessment, which has been the reason for the licence moratorium since 2019.

At the bunkering stakeholder forum meeting on Tuesday, the letters were acknowledged and an announcement was made by the acting chief executive of Samsa that the moratorium on bunkering operators would stay in place until the environmental risk assessment had been performed.

In a joint statement by the SA Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob), Bird Life SA, the Wildlife and Environment Society of SA, Nelson Mandela University and the Zwartkops Conservancy, they said it had been a long and hard road to get to this position. “It was finally agreed that the performance of an independent comprehensive assessment of risks to the environment would occur, and measures are to be put in place to ensure that TNPA and Samsa adhere to this undertaking,” the statement says.

“The commitment by Samsa now to investigate the impacts is a major win for conservation groups, but caution should be applied not to burn the bunkering fuel in celebrations too early.”

They charged that neither the public nor the Bunkering Environmental Working Group had been consulted about the decision by Samsa — announced on January 31 and due to be implemented from April 1 — to lift the moratorium.

The advent of ship-to-ship fuelling, or bunkering, in 2016 and its sharp increase since then were contributing to the demise of the endangered African penguin, they said.

St Croix Island, the closest island to bunkering activities, has suffered a staggering 80% decline of African penguins in the past five years.

During this time, vessel numbers have more than doubled in the Bay, with bulk carriers having increased more than threefold.

The five co-authors said the devastating effect of oil pollution on marine life in general should not be underestimated.

They said besides the three bunkering oil spills which had already happened, and the fear of further spills, there was also concern about the noise generated by the mushrooming fleets of ships delivering and receiving bunkering.

The moratorium on the licensing of further operators beyond the three incumbent bunkering companies was imposed on August 22 2019.

It was put in place after a second oil spill, following the first in 2016, and pending the finalisation of a Holding Capacity and Risk Assessment Study.