Lieutenant Brian Badura, the ship's spokesman, said piracy off the coast of Somalia was one of the key issues in African waters that the two nations would be interested in co-operating on.

"Some of the things that we are looking at are problems like piracy, unlawful fishing, oil bunkering," he told AFP.

Pirates off the coast of Somalia on September 25 seized a Ukrainian ship with a cargo of 33 combat tanks and other weaponry. They are demanding a 20 million dollar ransom, but the vessel is surrounded by US and other foreign warships.

The surge in incidents of piracy off the coast of Somalia threatens to cripple the shipping industry as it affects some of the world's most important trade routes through the Suez Canal.

Some vessels could in future choose to bypass the Canal entirely and take the longer route between Europe and Asia by going around the Cape of Good Hope.

"Our nations share a mutual interest in safeguarding the maritime environment, which plays a critical role in today's global economy," said Admiral Mark Fitzgerald.

The 97,000-tonne USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Table Bay on Saturday carrying about 5,000 sailors, and is scheduled to leave on Tuesday.

The strike group will steam up the coast of East Africa where it will conduct several ship-to-ship exercises with the South African Navy.

The last US carrier to visit South Africa was the USS Franklin D Roosevelt in 1967, a visit marred by the apartheid government's refusal to allow black sailors to disembark.

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