South Africa’s coastlines are located at the southernmost point of the continent’s landmass. The country’s east coast is bordered by the Indian Ocean, while its west coast is bordered by the South Atlantic. This enables freight and cruise ships of various sizes to visit the South African coastlines in three directions. South Africa’s major ports run the length of the country’s 1,739-mile coastline.
The country had almost 9000 port visits as of 2019, with ships of various types. The country’s mineral-rich variety deserves a lot of credit for this. Furthermore, because of South Africa’s expanding economy, bunker and fuel oil supplies are substantially less expensive. As a result, long-distance Ore Carriers, VLCCs, and other boats frequently use South Africa as a bunker fuel port.
South Africa also hosts 1.22 percent of all dry bulk carrier port calls in the world, due to its vast mineral reserves. Container and liquid bulk vessels account for 0.3 percent and 0.45 percent of worldwide traffic, respectively.
According to the Economic Complexity Index, South Africa had the world’s number 38 top GDP in 2020, number 36 in export earnings, number 42 in goods imported, number 97 in terms of GDP per capita, and the number 54 most complicated economy in 2020.
South Africa’s major exports include gold, platinum, coal, automobiles, and diamonds, which are mostly sent to China, the United States, India, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
South Africa’s major imports include crude and refined oil, auto parts, cars, and broadcasting equipment, all of which are mostly imported from China, Germany, the United States, India, and Saudi Arabia.