Mota-Engil drives out fishers in Mangochi

Egenetsa Fatchi is a widow living on the shores of Lake Malawi with the world’s truly freshwater body as her means for survival and the only hope that has for long cushioned her from economic pains usually faced by widows.

When her husband, Frank, died, he left behind a small-scale fishing business capable of feeding his wife and all dependants.

“All these years, my business has been smooth. I was able to make sure my fishing vessels are in good condition with recommended repair and service works always done on time,” she said in an interview in Mangochi, suggesting something has gone wrong.

Indeed, what she did not know was that her glory will not last as her plans and hopes clashed with government’s desires on the Malawi Lake Services Limited.

Government privatised Malawi Lake Services Limited to revitalise water transport and all essential services on ports along Lake Malawi, according to director of marine services Lastone Makuzula.

He said: “The rates there [at the then State-owned operator] were ridiculously low.”

Revitalising, stakeholders agree, was vital as services on ports such as Malawi’s only major dry-dock shipyard in Monkey Bay, had hit rock bottom at the hands of government.

But the otherwise positive move has steadily degenerated into a threat not only to Fatchi’s economic rights but also hundreds of human lives employed to fish in the deep waters.

Lake services, including ownership of all ports on Lake Malawi, were concessioned to Malawi Shipping Company (MSC), a subsidiary of Portuguese multinational Mota-Engil taking over from Glens Waterways which government said failed to run the ports as a business.

And, as government wished, Mota-Engil is running the ports as a business—but as a monopoly since they own all ports and also operate own vessels.

According to the Marine Department, vessels are expected to be taken off the waters now and again to be checked on parts that are always underwater.

“This is for safety reasons because you don’t usually see and you can’t know if those parts underneath are running properly,” said Lloyd Phiri, a marine engineer.

Raised rates

But this is no longer the case with small-scale businesspeople such as Fatchi who are being forced to use improvised means to check their vessels’ seaworthiness.

Said Fatchi: “We stopped using the floating dock at Monkey Bay because the new owners have raised rates so that we shouldn’t afford and they have also introduced strange fees.”

Ever since Mota-Engil took over, Fatchi and others are now expected to pay K3 000 (about $7.50) for each external artisan every day as launching fees to use the dry dock and ground rental for days the vessel is on the yard.

Now imagine this if you can. Fatchi comes in to book for usage of the dock to service her vessel, she is told to pay K24 000 (about $60). A few months later, she returns and is told that rates have been revised to K150 000 (about $375). Few more months down the line, the same service is now at K616 000 (about $1 540).

“This has killed me and I can’t afford any more,” Fatchi told The Nation.

But the results of her failure to use the shipyard for such essential services as regular refitting, is bearing bitter fruits not just for her business but human lives too.

On top of the K616 000 launching fees and K3 000 for external artisans, customers are also expected to pay K115 000 (about $287) ground rental daily (raised from K40 000), all before labour and electricity charges at the end of the scheduled works.

When she was told to pay K616 000 in advance to use the facilities, the widow decided to withdraw and approach local artisans who improvised some kind of a dry dock. Unfortunately, the results were dire because they could not thoroughly see the underwater parts.

In the aftermath, Lady Egnetsa, her favourite vessel, developed a big hole underneath allowing in much more water than the crew could control as they rushed ashore with the day’s catch.

“It’s now six months since the tragedy and for me it was only the shipyard people who could help me tow it off the water, but they say they don’t have the facilities,” she said.

Fatchi has other vessels—–Flora, Frazer and Hapana-–-plying fully certified even with the not-so-reliable repair and service works on them.

But both government and MSC were clearly ignorant of the effects the changes at the port have had on small-scale businesspeople.

Complainants

To them, Maldeco Fisheries Limited—the biggest fishing company on Lake Malawi owned by conglomerate Press Corporation Limited—should be the only complainant.

“We have heard of the complaints mainly from Maldeco and those have been sorted out because we had a meeting in the presence on government,” said Austin Msowoya, MSC shipping adviser.

It is a fact that Maldeco is the major customer at Monkey Bay shipyard because they dock their fishing vessels there every day, but like Fatchi, they have been hit hard by the changes at the port.

According to Maldeco, this is also the reason the company is failing to supply fish—the source of protein to over 70 percent of the population—to Malawi’s cities “because we can’t maintain our fleet.”

Financially, the company has lost K47 million (about $117 500) as their three vessels—Kampango, Crystal Waters and Sanudi—were grounded between November 2012 and March 2013 because MSC could not allow them space on the yard for essential annual and emergency repairs.

Maldeco general manager Ken Mthunzi confirmed: “We are using unseaworthy equipment and we know we are endangering lives of our crew.

“But it’s because we just can’t access the shipyard when it’s so crucial to our business and we know it’s not fun sending people on the lake on unfit equipment.”

The Maldeco/MSC story is a long meandering road too technical to understand.

“And they [MSC] charge in dollars which is illegal in Malawi,” observed Mthunzi, a claim we managed to verify through MSC’s own rate card e-mailed to a customer Peter Chikazinga on July 24.

Marine was not aware of this, but they promised to investigate when shown the rate card.

The bill disputes with Maldeco were followed by MSC refusing to honour an agreed annual refitting schedule, rendering Maldeco vessels unseaworthy.

“In February, Kampango had developed a fault and we needed to replace propeller shaft seal, but we could not because they had put Chauncey Maples on the dock which was not even been worked on,” said Maldeco chief engineer Joseph Siliya.

Misunderstandings between MSC and Maldeco have been reported to authorities, as evidenced by correspondence we have seen, but problems have persisted.

In one of the correspondence to the Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC), Maldeco warned of dire consequences if problems with the shipyard are not resolved.

The Marine Department hopes that after a meeting at the shipyard attended by Maldeco, the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), PPPC, Fisheries Department and other stakeholders, the problems would soon be history.