Southern African Shipyards (SAS) in Durban has been awarded a contract for nine new tugs, to be built over a 42-month period, the Ports and Ships website has learnt.

In the past year, South Africa shipped 40.6 million tonnes of iron ore to China, an increase of 12% on 2011. India, which was China’s third biggest supplier, saw its exports to China decrease 54.75% to 33 million tonnes.

As a result of the sub-lessees failing to secure any business, the facility that was built as the Saldanha Fabrication Centre in 2007 is now to be converted into a multidisciplinary facility to support the sectors of Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, Renewable Energy Power, Desalination, Mineral Mining, and Environmental & Chemical Industries.

A court order granted late last year in response to an urgent application from corporate law firm, Bowman Gilfillan, acting on behalf of Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG), created new law in South Africa relating to cross-border insolvency cases.

Investors should consider buying into increasingly accessible Chinese markets, given an enticing combination of good valuations and low correlation with other markets, which makes China an attractive option in terms of potential returns and diversification.