Established in December 2008, the primary purpose of the DCC is to develop the competitiveness of the local chemicals manufacturing industry. Following the successful completion of a pilot project, the DCC became operational as of March 2009, with the receipt of its first funding from the eThekwini Municipality and founding member firms. Since its establishment, the operational foundation of DCC has proved to be both robust and effective and therefore still operates under the original operational model.

Funding for the DCC is overseen by the Economic Development and Investment Promotion Unit (EDIPU) of the eThekwini Municipality.

As the chemicals manufacturing industry in KZN aims to expand its share of local and international markets, clustering is an important progression from companies operating in isolation, to recognising that there are certain support activities that can be better performed in conjunction with other firms confronting similar challenges. The benefits of clustering include:

• Generating a critical mass of resources
• Shared learning
• Supporting the rapid diffusion of ideas
• Collective action and risk sharing
• Reduced costs
• Enhanced ability to compete on a global platform

MVA is the value addition through manufacturing; it is revenue less consumables and services. The DCC has chosen to focus on MVA growth as this encapsulates the activities throughout the value chain and will enable both employment and private sector investment growth, and will achieve sustainable growth in the long run.

The identification of long-term strategic objectives of the Durban Chemicals Cluster has been recognised as being of critical importance to the evolution of the DCC into a major driver of industry growth. The DCC’s programmes in 2018 reflect the following strategic objectives.

The founding constitutional principles of the DCC are incorporated into its Memorandum of Incorporation under the new Companies Act which governs the activities of the DCC. This specifies, amongst other things, objectives, membership requirements, decision making processes and the appointment of a facilitation service provider. The operating model of the DCC entails industry contributing technical and management expertise to focused Technical Steering Committees (TSCs) and these TSCs then in turn reporting to an Executive Committee comprising both industry and local government representatives.