Новости за 04.03.2021

Civil engineering organisation the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) has called for collaboration and working towards gender diversity and inclusivity to create a more sustainable working environment and world. SAICE president Vishal Krishandutt highlights the need for a sustainable talent pipeline and recruitment process, which understands that an inclusive and diverse company culture are talent magnets for modern employees.

South Africa added 515 MW of new wind capacity in 2020 cementing its wind leadership on the African continent, a new Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) analysis shows. By the end of last year, South Africa had 2 500 MW of cumulative wind capacity installed, representing about 34% of the 7 300 MW of capacity installed across Africa and the Middle East.

Industry body the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) has called on businesses in the metals and engineering (M&E) sector and the wider manufacturing industry to ramp up training efforts. It suggests that this can be done by deepening partnerships with government and funding entities, such as the sector education and training authorities and will help to train artisans, technicians and engineers to meet the National Development Plan’s aim of training 30 000 artisans a year by 2030.

Considering engineering and construction services firm Murray & Roberts’ (M&R’s) “all time high” order book of R60.5-billion, and near orders of R19.9-billion, CEO Henry Laas says the group is “well positioned” for a return to profitability in the 2022 financial year. He adds that the firm is also expected to achieve meaningful earnings growth in the short- to medium term.

The Labour Court has on Thursday dismissed an application by the SAA Pilots Association for leave to appeal a prior judgment in December 2020 which held that the lock-out of the pilots was lawful and protected in terms of the Labour Relations Act. SAAPA members have been locked out since 18 December and the deadlock continues, mainly due to a stalemate regarding proposed changes the airline wants to be made to a long-standing regulation agreement with the pilots' union.

Power project developer Red Rocket has announced the start of commercial operations at the 4 MW Kruisvallei hydropower plant, along the Ash River between Clarens and Bethlehem, in the Free State. The completion of the plant comes almost two years since construction began on March 26, 2019.

Labour Court judge Andre van Niekerk on March 3 dismissed the South African Airways Pilot’s Association’s (SAAPA’s) application for leave to appeal the Labour Court’s December 2020 judgment, with a costs order in favour of South African Airways (SAA) and the business rescue practitioners (BRPs). This was the SAAPA’s attempt to challenge the Labour Court’s judgment which held that the lockout of the pilots was lawful and protected in terms of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995.

German group, Daimler Truck, and Swedish truck maker, the Volvo Group, have wrapped up the deal to form a fuel-cell joint venture (JV).  The Volvo Group has acquired 50% of the interest in the existing Daimler Truck Fuel Cell company for about 600-million euro on a cash and debt-free basis.

Trade union Solidarity has obtained a warrant of execution to seize R12.7-million worth of assets from State-owned defence group Denel. The union explained in a statement on March 4 that this followed after the entity failed to meet various contractual and statutory obligations towards its employees.

South African wilderness guide and Tshembo Africa Foundation founder Bruce Lawson has launched the BurpeesForConservation challenge to raise R1-billion. Lawson and collective participants worldwide will sweat their way through a million burpees between March 15 and April 11.

The Eskom board has claimed that a number of allegations made in the public and media, including against its CEO Andre de Ruyter, are aiming to influence internal operations and good governance processes at the state power utility.   These allegations and what the board regards as accompanying unwarranted attacks on Eskom's management team, have, in its view, the potential effect of distracting management from the critical role of restoring Eskom to operational effectiveness and financial stability.

Grindrod aims to have its logistics hub in Palma, in northern Mozambique, “up and running” by the end of the first half of this year, says Grindrod Freight Services CEO Xolani Mbambo. Palma is currently a focal point in terms of oil and gas developments in this part of the country.

Glencore Ferroalloys is helping to redress South Africa’s historical socioeconomic inequalities by supporting local small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) through the recent launch of its first Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) Hub, in Rustenburg. Glencore opened the ESD hub, which was launched on March 1, with the intent of supporting small businesses through business skills development, infrastructure, opportunities and funding.

Look just beneath the surface of many of the technologies powering the energy transition and there’s a red metallic glint. Copper is a vital part of green infrastructure from grids to wind turbines, and a recent price surge threatens to make decarbonization more costly. Copper has doubled from the lows seen a year ago and is near a nine-year high. Amid predictions of a new commodity supercycle kicking off, many analysts say the top hasn’t yet been reached for a metal that’s core to the green energy drive.

In this opinion piece, the Industrial Development Think Tank discusses the need to develop digital skills in the manufacturing knowledge base for South Africa. The world economy is undergoing a period of structural and technological transformation with the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR or Industry 4.0). The advent of Industry 4.0 technologies and production methods bring with it an ever-more complex business and operational environment.

While there is growing momentum across the world in investing in hydrogen and the related import and export value chains, management consulting company Kearney MD Romain Debarre warns that there is still a lack of supply and demand for the hydrogen economy. While there is a market for hydrogen consumption, and for finding and producing the clean fuel, “there is no real significant market at the moment for new green hydrogen”, he told delegates attending the Africa Gas Forum this week.

Industry body the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) has partnered with funding consulting firm VennCap Business Solutions to assist metals and engineering sector companies to secure funding for their businesses and enable them to chart a course to sustainability as efforts to revive the economy get under way. It is important to help companies that have survived the lockdown to rebuild their businesses, while also supporting new, innovative ventures, says Seifsa CEO Kaizer Nyatsumba.

JSE-listed real estate investment trust (Reit) Fairvest Property Holdings, in its results for the six months ended December 31, 2020, noted strong improvements in property fundamentals and a solid 7.2% increase in distributions compared with the first half of the 2020 calendar year. However, compared with the six months ended December 31, 2019, distributions had decreased by 5.1%.

Concerns around privacy and security risks are risking the participation of more than half the global population in governments’ various digital services drive. A new survey by EY found that 53% of the respondents believe that privacy and security risks around how their data is shared outweigh the benefits of adopting the various digital services deployed.

While the patterns and consumption habits of people have changed and are now leaning more towards digital consumption, commercial gaming company Polycade co-founder and CEO Tyler Bushnell says the gaming industry has experienced “exceptional growth”. The industry was valued at about $179-billion at the end of 2020, up from 2019’s $160-billion.

The global media, arts and entertainment industries have experienced one of the most dramatic shifts as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures. As a result, these industries are now dominated by digital distribution.

As gas opportunities rise owing to recent discoveries and Africa’s ongoing energy deficit, management consulting company Kearney metals and mining global lead Igor Hulak says gas provides a “viable opportunity” to decrease dependency on coal. “Natural gas will remain a critical element of the global energy portfolio as Southern Africa navigates the energy transition to address climate change and intends to provide electricity to more than 600-million people currently going without.”

The Gauteng government believes it can resolve the e-tolls matter "once and for all". The topic, which arises every election cycle, has been raised by Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo who on Wednesday restated the long-standing position of the province and its opposition over the operation of the e-tolls.

Four and a bit years ago Mining Weekly told its readers to keep a look out for the five letters – UHDMS – which stand for ultrahigh dense media separation. At the time, outgoing Kumba Iron Ore CEO Norman Mbazima had told Mining Weekly that these five letters translated into “mouth-watering” financial metrics for the JSE-listed Anglo American group company.