Denel to launch maritime division

“Maritime Africa is a fantastic opportunity for Denel to launch our maritime division in public and articulate our aspirations within the sector,” said Ismail Dockrat, chief executive officer, Denel Integrated Systems and Maritime, who is scheduled to speak at the conference at the CTICC in Cape Town from November 23-24.

Denel is a sponsor of the event, which will bring together African leaders and global experts from the military, government, defence industry, law enforcement, marine manufacture and maintenance, commercial shipping and offshore extractive industries to focus on the growth of a safe, secure and sustainable African maritime domain.

Denel established the marine division only late last year. Dockrat said: “It is striking that Denel has not had the same relationship with the SA Navy as it has historically had with the SA Air Force and the SA Army … if you look at the defence review, which was approved in Parliament earlier this year, it calls on Denel to play a stronger role in the maritime environment.”

He added: “Our key objective in the next year is to become a strategic partner to the South African Navy and from that foundation to play a broader role in terms of supporting other navies in the region, as well as working with the South African shipbuilding and ship repair industry to grow the industry to the benefit of everybody in that sector.

“We have very strong systems integration, programme management and integrated logistics support capabilities and we think there is a gap in the market in this context. Denel is not going into the business of building ships. We know that there are strong players in the industry that we can partner with, both locally but also importantly, globally. So we are there to form partnerships with others and to offer our value proposition.”

Maritime Africa and Coastal Security Africa, is organised by Spintelligent, Cape Town-based trade exhibition and conference organiser, and the African office of UK-based Clarion Events.
Source: Africa News Agency