Ematum boats still being refitted – State News Agency

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Ematum boats still being refitted – State News Agency

10:12 CAT | 11 Jul 2016

File photo

The fishing boats of the Mozambique Tuna Company (Ematum) are still being refitted, but the refitting is to meet standards demanded by the Mozambican maritime authorities, and not by the European Union, as had initially been reported.

Interviewed in the latest issue of the independent weekly “Savana”, the Ematum Executive Director for Administration, Herminio Tembe, said that ”when the boats were inspected by the Mozambican authorities, namely the Maritime Administration and the Fisheries Produce Inspectorate, it was noted that there was work to be done, in order to meet adequately the requirements of the state whose flag they are flying, Mozambique”.

“It is this imperative which has determined pushing ahead with the process of refitting”, said Tembe. “It results from a recommendation of the authorities to ensure that the boats have the necessary certification for purposes of seaworthiness and insurance”.

Asked why the Maritime Administration or the Fisheries Produce Inspectorate had not been consulted earlier, while the boats were under construction, Tembe, who is a former Permanent Secretary in the Fisheries Ministry, said this was a “historical” question.

“I’m not going to go back and cover historical issues because I don’t master them”, he admitted. “I am talking about current facts”.

The Ematum fleet consists of 24 fishing boats built in the French port of Cherbourg. The total cost of these boats, plus six patrol vessels, was 850 million US dollars, obtained in 2013 by issuing loan certificates on the Eurobond market.

Tembe said that to date 12 of the fishing boats have been refitted. Work on the other 12 boats is still under way. Tembe did not put a definitive figure on how much the refitting would cost, but described it as “a more or less significant investment”. (However, “Savana” put the cost of refitting nine boats at 14 million meticais – about 226,000 US dollars, at current exchange rates).

He did not say exactly which parts of the boats were being refitted, but when AIM spoke to the Minister of Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, Agostinho Mondlane, in June, he mentioned the lifting gear.

It was initially reported that a South African company was being hired to refit the boats, but Tembe explained that the refitting was being done in Maputo port itself. “Initially it was intended to involve South African companies”, said Tembe, “but later we found there was the capacity to do it here, and right now we are employing Mozambican operators”.

Last year, according to the government’s figures, Ematum only caught 300 tonnes of tuna. But Tembe was optimistic that soon the company would overcome its financial and technical difficulties and start fishing at full capacity.

Asked how much money Ematum would need to operate fully, Tembe said he could give no exact figure “because it is one thing to undertake the normal operations, and another to complete the refitting”.

“I can’t give precise dates”, Tembe said, “but I believe that during this year we will be able to operate to full capacity”.

The issue of refitting came to light in testimony given by Finance Minister Adriano Maleiane to a parliamentary commission in June, and reported on the front page of the Maputo daily “Noticias”. Maleiane said the refitting was necessary to comply with EU specifications. He told AIM that he had received this information from Ematum itself.

But Ematum publicly denied Maleiane in a short statement which appeared on the company’s website on 6 June. This claimed that Maleiane had been “misinformed”, nd that the company “wishes to confirm its utmost satisfaction with the quality of the fleet that was delivered as well as its building standards that fully satisfy Ematum’s operational and commercial needs”.

Mondlane told AIM on 8 June that what he called a “minor problem” had been corrected and the boats were fully EU-compliant. But it now turns out, according to Tembe, that the specifications concerned are Mozambican and not European.

Source: AIM