An entrepeneur plans to provide much-needed infrastructure for small fishing enterprises
Barry Streek
Costly and time-wasting experiences with larger companies in the fishing industry have provoked Cape Town entrepreneur Sam Montsi, whose company has had a quota for six years, to open a multifaceted service to serve small and medium fishing enteprises.
Montsi’s partner, Francois Kuttel, said the new centre, East Pier Facilities based in the Cape Town harbour, would provide a range of services from processing to management and administration. The centre is scheduled to be operational by the end of the year.
Montsi said his company, Surmont Fishing, which obtained a 1 000-ton hake trawl quota, bought a boat with financial help from the Industrial Development Corporation and the then Small Business Development Corporation, but this was “a disastrous operation and we sold it this year. We then bought into a vessel from Iceland.”
However, they encountered considerable problems when the vessel was in port because it did not have access to infrastructure.
“For instance, we have to ask I&J to use their facilities. They say come at 9pm but when you get there you find one of their vessels is still there and you have to go to the side of it to offload,” said Montsi.
“Or you want to get ice and you go to I&J or Premier at the appointed time to find one of their vessels is being loaded with ice. You come back two or three hours later and they are still loading ice on to their vessel.”
On occasion these sorts of problems resulted in Surmont virtually giving away the fish because it could not offload it.
As a result, Surmont and the Kuttel family decided to establish East Pier Facilities, in which each would have 50% shareholding, to provide the infrastructure for small players. This would include services such as quay space, ice, a processing facility, the trading of the fish, stevedoring, warehousing, victualling and the provision of food.
It is hoped that a cost-effective service will be provided and fishing companies could decide which services they wanted to use. “They will have the option to sell the fish to us before processing so that they can get quick cash if they need it or they can process the fish through us. It really depends on their needs.”
East Pier Facilities has secured property from Transnet and it will cost between R15-million and R20-million to establish.
Monsti said the new company might also establish a fishery operation in one of the Waterfront shops for the sale of fish to ordinary consumers but this would not happen in the beginning of the new operation.