AFRICAN Maritime Services (AMS) identified the need 26 years ago for a focused, professional trawl building, trawl manufacturing and trawl repair facility in South Africa and Namibia, and has not looked back. The company which operates from Cape Town and Mossel Bay in South Africa and Walvis Bay and Luderitz in Namibia, has been instrumental in introducing innovative, new trawl equipment and materials into these regions.
At the time, AMS entered into exclusive stockist and distribution agreements with internationally-respected manufacturers of trawling gear, Euronete in Portugal being one such example. “Euronete is one of the biggest trawl netting manufacturers in the world,” says AMS director Robert Whitehead. “We are their exclusive distributor in South Africa and Namibia and working with them has enabled us to import advanced materials to build lighter, stronger and better wearing trawls that are easier to tow.”
The higher cost of such a trawl is offset by the savings in fuel, as large trawlers can use anything from between eight to ten tons of fuel a day. That’s approximately 8 000 to 10 000 litres of fuel per day. “If you can knock that down by 10%, your payback is a few days on the higher cost of the gear that we are building,” says Whitehead.
AMS also has agreements in place with other major international trawl gear companies including Bridon-Bekaert, a leading UK manufacturer of Marblue and Dyform trawl warp and Markussens, the Danish manufacturer of the “Blue Line” range of trawl hardware.
Through links with these international players, AMS has access to their technology, visiting them regularly to keep up to date with latest developments.
Whitehead explains that their business is capital intensive and that they have learned over the years the stock profile that they need to carry both in South Africa and Namibia, to meet industry demands. He says, “Ships come in and they need the gear straight away. Our import lead times are anything from between two to six months for ordering from manufacturers in Europe, therefore we have to anticipate the local industry’s needs at least three to six months before they need it.”
Whitehead explains that in South Africa, the trawling industry is very well regulated and considered one of the success stories of the world in terms of fish management.
The industry is dominated by a few large groups, unlike Namibia which is a slightly bigger industry with a more diverse customer base. “We work closely with skippers to determine their needs and establish where their problems lie. The type of fish being targeted will determine the net design so we offer in the region of 50 variations of trawl netting which we carry in stock,” says Whitehead.
Customers outside of South Africa
Due to a few New Zealand companies fishing in the Indian ocean using Mauritius as a base, AMS has built relationships with these companies where they are supplying trawl gear to them directly which is shipped out from Cape Town to Mauritius in containers, and sometimes direct from their European manufacturers. AMS has also picked up business in Angola where the fishing industry is fairly new, undertaking trawl repairs at their Walvis Bay operation, and trucking it back to southern Angola.
“AMS prides itself in its friendly approach to its clients and focuses on developing relationships that are built to last. Our friendly team of professionals carry many years of experience on both the strategic as well as the operational front,” concludes Whitehead.
