Speaking to parliament's arts and culture committee last week, the museum's CEO, Sibongiseni Mkhize, said he was in talks with the Treasury's public-private partnership unit to decide if the three boats could be run better by "people who are in the business of running ferries".
The museum's three-year-old, 300-seat, R26-million ferry, the Sikhululekile, has been on top form this year, but it broke down seven times between 2008 and 2010, and was out of action for days over the 2009 Christmas season - costing the museum an estimated R7-million in lost ticket sales.
The historic, but much smaller Susan Kruger and Dias ferries cannot cope with the number of visitors, leaving the museum little option but to charter private 145-seat boats from other Waterfront companies - at great cost.
Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile told parliament earlier this year the Sikhululekile had been out of action for about 70 days since February 2008. "The challenges we had with the ferries forced us to give more attention to them - as if the museum was about shipping. The core business is protecting our heritage," Mkhize said. He said the ferries would not be sold outright, but might be handed over to a marine company to operate.
"We have just started talking to the national Treasury so we have no model yet," Mkhize said. Operating the ferries costs R15-million a year. A new operator would also have to ferry staff and their children, who attend school on the island, to and fro daily.
Major tour operators Thompsons Holidays and Hylton Ross Tours welcomed the news. "This will help a lot. A few tour operators have considered taking Robben Island off their routes because we've been left with egg on our faces by all the breakdowns," said Geert van Doorn, the owner of Hylton Ross Tours.
John Ridler of Thompsons Holidays said: "I'm all for it. Any effort to improve the ferry service to the island would help all players in the local tourism market. "Breakdowns over Christmas caused us damage."
The museum, which recently earned its first, almost-clean audit in six years, has spent R1.7-million to upgrade the homes of former prison warders on the island ahead of a visit by the Unesco World Heritage Committee. There are also plans to make the museum more user-friendly for visitors who are visually challenged or hard of hearing.