Erase my data.
You can ask us to delete the personal information SmartCOG (Pty) Ltd, trading as El Capitan Marine ("ECM", "we"), holds about you. This page explains what we delete, what we are required to keep, and how long it takes. It expands on the deletion right set out in our privacy notice.
Your right to deletion
Under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA") you may ask us to delete or destroy personal information that we are no longer authorised to keep, that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date or misleading, or that you originally consented to us processing where you have since withdrawn that consent.
Asking costs nothing and does not affect any of your other rights.
How to ask
- Email info@ecmarine.co.za from the address on your account.
- Phone +27 64 621 0795, and we will send a confirmation email to verify the request.
We verify your identity before acting, normally by confirming you control the email address or mobile number on the account. That stops someone else deleting your bookings.
If you are asking on behalf of someone else, such as a child or a guest you booked for, tell us the relationship and we may ask for proof of authority.
What we delete
- Your name, email address and phone number.
- Your account and sign-in records.
- Emergency contact and next-of-kin details.
- Guest details you gave us for a passenger manifest.
- Saved preferences, notes and communication settings.
- Marketing subscriptions and the consent records tied to them.
- Photographs or documents you uploaded, where they identify you.
What we have to keep
Some records cannot be deleted on request, because other South African law requires us to hold them. In those cases we de-identify the record instead: the booking or payment survives, but it is no longer linked to you.
- Booking and payment records: 7 years, for tax and audit purposes.
- Signed indemnities and waivers: 7 years, so we can defend potential injury claims and meet our maritime safety obligations.
- Vessel logs and passenger manifests, for as long as SAMSA requires them.
- Anything subject to an open dispute, claim or investigation, until the matter is concluded.
- Server logs: 90 days, then discarded automatically.
We never store your card details, so there is nothing for us to delete. Paystack handles card data end to end.
How long it takes
We acknowledge your request within 5 business days. Once your identity is confirmed your account is closed immediately, your personal information is erased or anonymised within 30 days, and it drops out of our backups within 90 days as those cycles expire. If we cannot finish inside 30 days we will tell you why and give you a new date.
If you have a trip booked
We cannot close an account with a confirmed upcoming trip, an unpaid balance or an open refund. Cancel or complete the trip first, or ask us to handle it as part of the same request. Our cancellation policy still applies to anything cancelled that way.
What you lose
Deletion is permanent. You will not be able to sign in, your booking history cannot be recovered, and any future booking starts a fresh account. Ask us for a copy of your data first if you want to keep one; you have a right of access as well, and we will send you everything we hold within 30 days.
Third parties
Where a supplier processes your information for us we pass the request on to them: Paystack for payments, Google for email and website analytics, and our cloud hosting provider. Some of them keep their own legally mandated records independently of us, and where that applies we will tell you who to contact.
If you only want the marketing to stop
Use the unsubscribe link in any marketing email, or reply to us and say so. Messages about a trip you have actually booked (confirmations, weather calls, safety notices) carry on while that booking is live.
Contact and complaints
Information Officer · Justin Spreckley · info@ecmarine.co.za · +27 64 621 0795.
If you are unhappy with how we handled your request you may complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa), JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg 2001: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za.