When Jos Govaarts stood up at the 2018 Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition to present his concept for the South African Navy’s Multi Mission Inshore Patrol Vessel (MMIPV), he was a project manager and his first slide was an artist’s impression of the ship in Table Bay.
When he stood up to present at the recent Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2024 South African Defence Industry Showcase conference alongside colleague Sefale Montsi, the picture in the slide was of the first MMIPV that Damen Shipyards Cape Town (DSCT), of which he was now the Managing Director, had built and delivered.
Over the last six years, Damen Shipyards Cape Town has built the three ships it was contracted to for the South African Navy (SAS King Shaka Zulu, SAS King Adam Kok III and SAS King Sekhukhune I). It has also built another three on spec, two of which were sold to African countries to protect their coastline and the third to a Middle Eastern country.
It was proof, said Montsi, of the strides the company had made in meeting the six deliverables that Armscor and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition had made part of the original tender. The first three deliverables were to produce the ships on time, on budget and to specification; the next three were to encourage the participation of the South African defence industry, use local content, and assist transformation.
Today, the shipyard, which had begun building spec vessels using the supply chains that it had created and the workers it had developed, looked a lot different from when the project began, thanks to the numbers of brand new South African maritime electricians.
Project Biro involved the Dutch-based Damen working with 20 South African companies and developing many small and micro enterprises into bigger operations, and then taking that expertise through its network of 35 shipyards worldwide, to Djibouti, the Port of Sudan, the Netherlands and Russia.
Localisation was vital, Govaarts said. Part of this involved giving one of their contractors an interest free loan to obtain a pipe bending machine, which cut down the need for welding, reduced costs and allowed the company to then pitch for other engineering jobs both in shipbuilding and beyond. The small company had also paid off the initial loan well within the Project Biro lifetime.
“We want to stay with the clients for the lifetime of the ships we build. We could have built the ships overseas, but then for the next 30 years, the expertise to maintain them would not have been in this country.
This attitude extended through to the design of the MMIPVs with their Sea Axe bow specifically designed to cleave through rough seas at high speed, as well as the extensive military capability in weaponry and radar, all using proven off the shelf technology to ensure reliability and availability.
To ensure the MMIPV design is future proof, Damen’s marine architects added multi-use, multi-mission aft decks to be adaptable to accommodate new technology during the ship’s estimated 30-year lifespan.
“Project Biro has proved how a government tender and a contract can create a lot of jobs, transfer skills and develop businesses from complex electrical systems to creating websites,” Govaarts said.
