Learning the Ropes. Chutzpah Pays off for Deep Sea Newcomer Basani Fishing

Entrepreneur, Arthur Shipalana of Basani Fishing, says he knew nothing about hypertension until he ventured into hake deep-sea fishing. He shares his experiences of weathering the initial storm.

A veteran of the motor industry, with interests in forestry and property, Shipalana’s business career took a turn for the terrifying when purchasing his first fishing vessel from a Spanish vessel owner fishing in Morocco. He lost millions, even before the boat arrived.

A loan from the bank turned out to be small change compared with the eventual cost of securing the factory freezer Basani, a dream realised only with generous assistance from a Spanish company then on the lookout for a reliable supply of fish from South Africa.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Shipalana recalls, now able to smile about it. “I didn’t know I was hypertensive. We must have lost about R6-million!”

Shipalana believes the story is instructive: fishing is not for the faint-hearted. The likeable businessman is a wiser soul having weathered the initial storm at the start of his journey into a sector that sunk many before him.