Maritime cluster to form in BCM

There are smart jobs and money to be made in gathering into one adventurous cluster, all East London businesses involved in the ocean economy.

So says Andrew Binning, CEO of Inkanyezi, one of the organisers of this month’s inaugural meeting to set up the Buffalo City Maritime Cluster (BCMC).

The cluster and an executive committee will be established at the Eastern Cape Maritime Summit at The Venue at Hemingways on October 27 and 28. The event, hosted by the Border-Kei Chamber of Business (BKCOB), is endorsed by 17 entities, including the IDZ, IDC, ECDC, provincial government and Transnet.

The purpose is to create synergies with shared benefits along value chains, and to create a unified local voice which can lobby in provincial, national and international maritime forums for investment.

The cluster will also tap into opportunities presented by the government’s Operation Phakisa, which aims to pump up the nation’s so-called blue economy. Other plans include:

• Using clustering in the same way as the automotive, tourism and manufacturing sectors have done to grow business;
• Catching up and competing with Nelson Mandela Bay and Durban, both of which have maritime clusters;
• Studying the phenomenon of “blooming” maritime clusters in Europe, where 17 nations belong to the European Network of Maritime Cluster and five million jobs are sustained.

Dr Malek Pourzanjani, CEO of the South African Maritime Institute, says maritime clusters create a “supportive environment for collaboration and innovation which assists industrial and small business developments, generates jobs and adds value to the local economy”.

Binning says any business in the region whose revenue is linked to the ocean is invited to join the cluster and offer to sit on the executive committee.

This includes exporters and importers, transport and logistic operators, the tourism sector, boat builders and suppliers of marine services, people involved in water safety, education, aquaculture and fishing.

Among the speakers will be architect, strategist and global town planning expert Bo Aronsson, who flies in from Sweden for the occasion. He will be joined by other national leaders, including the CEO of South Africa’s most visited destination, the V&A Waterfront, David Green.

Aronsson and Green will share ideas, developments and strategies which have made them world leaders in regional planning, tourism and economic growth.

Aronsson has been instrumental in urban planning across the globe, and has fascinating insights from working in the highly-esteemed port city of Gothenburg which, like East London, is situated off a river and is known for its port operations and water culture. Aronsson’s focus will be how to effectively commercialise port cities.

BKCOB director Les Holbrook said: “Given the right support, East London could become a thriving maritime centre. It’s time BCM got some limelight.”

Binning said the summit would include an exhibition and site tours. “It is a key opportunity to learn about business and development, and to network among the business community and those agencies developed to promote business growth.”

Entrance to the exhibition is free to pre-registered trade delegates, scholars and students. More information is at .

For exhibition and summit enquiries contact Graziella Ventresca Norton on graziella@inkanyezi.co.za or 086-110-1475. — mikel@dispatch.co.za