TALLIE MARINE – Far More Than Just Staying Afloat

South Africa enjoys decades upon decades of experience when it comes to marine manufacturing and boat building, which shows no signs of abating. Since 2014 the country has secured investments worth R30 billion and created over 7000 direct jobs in the ocean’s economy, with these coming mainly in infrastructure development, marine manufacturing, aquaculture, as well as the oil and gas sector.

South Africa’s oldest city, Cape Town, has a unique location at the southern tip of the African continent and is perfectly positioned on the South-South Trade Corridor, linking it to Asia, Africa and the East Coast of the Americas. In turn, this makes the ‘Mother City’ a bustling port for merchant and commercial fleets, housing several marine manufacturing, maintenance and repair companies that service local and international enterprises.

HEART OF AN HISTORIC BAY

Head just a short way north and you will find the spectacular St Helena Bay, in South Africa’s Western Cape. It is historically notable for having been the site of Vasco da Gama’s first foray into South Africa, and today is famed as the only place on the West Coast where the sunrise over the sea is visible, distant dolphins enchanting shoreline spectators in the changing morning light.

The largest bay in Africa, the Dutch East India Company established an outpost there in the 17th century, while the Free Burghers found it a plentiful fishing spot, to which ships from the Cape settlement would regularly travel in search of resources to sustain the community.

It remains a major fishing town, and along with the port in Laaiplek is known as the home of South Africa’s fishing industry. Tinned fish products such as pilchards in tomato puree, hake and fish-meal are processed at factory concentrations in communities like Stompneus Bay, West Point and Sandy Point, the eleven processing factories together providing more than half of the country’s R2 billion annual fish production.

At the heart of St Helena Bay is found the largest commercial glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) boat builder in Africa. Tallie Marine has come to be a hugely respected name in boat building and fishing, and synonymous with the famous Sandy Point Harbour. Situated in the harbour itself, it is the perfect location to deliver the wide variety of services that the boatyard has to offer.

Four generations ago, the first Tallies landed in South Africa from Malta, and from humble beginnings began constructing wooden boats for the local market. Tallie Marine was first established as a maintenance and repair shop in 1988, working on wooden, steel and GRP vessels and in 1995, Anton Tallie designed the first GRP vessel as an alternative to the high maintenance and limited lifespan of wooden vessels.

Today Tallie Marine employs over 100 people and its name has spread far and wide throughout the boat building industry. Along the way vessels have been supplied to Mozambique, Namibia and to the Government of Angola, as well as of course to the local and vital South African market.

CHASING EXCELLENCE

“Integrity and excellence are the pillars of Tallie Marine’s work ethic,” the company states. “We strive to maintain exceptionally high standards and hard-working mind sets that translate into a company that is viable, reliable and a source of upliftment for our employees.

“We believe in service – service to our people, and service to our customers”, Anton Tallie adds. Tallie Marine’s first competed GRP vessel remains special to the company, as it is the foundation on which the company’s legacy has been built over the course of the intervening nearly 25 years.

“Scarcity of the right wood for the right application, the price and the limited lifespan of wooden vessels moved us away from this form of construction,” Tallie explains of the decision to move to GRP. Design innovation has long been key to remaining at the vanguard of SA boatbuilding, and a market leader in vessels of outstanding quality.

“Constantly we are staying up to date with current trends and ways to improve on designs,” Donna Tallie outlined to netwerk24. “Antonie Tallie is a creative force when it comes to innovation and designs are constantly evolving around clients’ needs and streamlining the vessels for maximum efficiency.

“Our vessels are built for strength and durability to maintain exceptional standards of safety,” Tallie further explained, and while striving for perfection in vessel engineering and execution is a constant preoccupation for Tallie Marine, equally important is its larger contribution to the Cape and country.

“We are dedicated to providing viable employment in an unstable economic climate,” Tallie wrapped up, “where people come not only to work, but to learn and make good on opportunities to improve their lives.”

It is a company where people remain far longer than the average for the industry, and which is renowned for its recognition of employee achievement. This all adds up to a harmonious working environment, Tallie Marine depicts. “The atmosphere in our yard and workshops is fantastic. We don’t have strikes, we don’t have problems. And that’s very important.”

REVITALISING MARITIME INDUSTRY

The South African boat building industry is currently worth well over R1 billion annually, and holds enormous further potential for the country’s economy. “We are keen to support sectors such as boat building to facilitate accelerated economic growth, job creation, and economic inclusion through skills development,” Cape Town mayoral committee member for economic opportunities and asset management James Vos said in 2019.

Further growth and transformation of South Africa’s boatbuilding sector is forever being stimulated, as exemplified by last September’s investors workshop for aspirant local boatbuilders held by the Department of Transport. “There are opportunities in the sector and we can only get to the next level with new investors and players in the industry,” enthused SABBEX chairman Bruce Tedder, and SABBEX executive director Vanessa Davidson agreed.

“Recognition of the boatbuilding sector by the National Department of Transport is a great step and starts to firmly locate the marine manufacturing sector as a central tenet of our economy,” she mused.

South Africa has a coastline of 3900 km and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 1.5 million km² – more than double South Africa’s landmass of 1.2 million km². Operation Phakisa – ‘hurry up’ in Sesotho – was launched by President Jacob Zuma in July 2014. It is billed as a flagship Oceans Economy geared toward unlocking the economic potential of South Africa’s oceans, which could contribute up to R177 billion to the GDP by 2033 and between 800,000 and one million direct jobs.

“A healthy ocean is very important to all life on earth,” sums up the Western Cape Government. “Billions of people depend on the ocean for their livelihoods and as a source of food.  We depend on the oceans for clean air and most of the oxygen we breathe.” Such a close focus on our oceans can only spell prosperity for maritime giants like Tallie Marine, while serving to shore up our own health, economy and security.