Shipping from/to South Africa

Durban’s port has the most shipping traffic in all of Africa. It is also South Africa’s largest port facility. This port was established in 1824 as a British port. The Durban Port Facility accounts for over 60% of South Africa’s total shipping income. Durban Bay is home to the facility, which spans 18.5 square kilometers and includes 8.9 square kilometers of high-tide coastline. Furthermore, this port handles 60% of South Africa’s entire container cargo shipping capacity.

Year round, a collection of more than 58 berths handle containers, dry bulk, and liquid cargoes in this port. The facility can handle ships with a DWT of up to 2,30,000 tons. Furthermore, its enormous outside anchorage allows cargo to be lightened for vessels with higher DWT.

Ore carriers with a length of more than 300 meters and a width of more than 35 meters may comfortably pass alongside the facility. The port received 3353 vessel calls in 2020, with a cargo volume of 81.21 million MT. By a huge margin, the volume is the greatest among South Africa’s main ports.

The permission of commercial harbor operations by Parliament was the first step in the development of Richards Bay in 1972. The facility includes a land area of 2.76 square kilometers and six docks for seagoing vessels of different sizes. The port, which is one of the largest in Africa, supports coal cargo operations. Richards Bay handles 55 percent of cargo among South Africa’s main ports in terms of gross volume. Large boats with a channel depth of 17.5 to 19.5 meters can comfortably dock at the facility.

Every year, 5 out of 6 berths specialize in coal as their principal cargo. Furthermore, for liquid and dry cargo, boats of a length of 350 meters or more (VLOC) dock across the ports. Richard Bay handles up to 80 million MT of cargo each year, with coal accounting for two-thirds of it. The commercial cargo operation is expected to reach a peak of 92 million MT in 2020.

Every day, modern loading rates represent a volume of 50 to 65 thousand MT. These coal handling stations’ biggest seagoing vessels are in the 190,000 MT size range.

The construction of Port Elizabeth along the South African sea coast goes back to the year 1427. The British settlement in the 1830s, on the other hand, marks the beginning of the city’s maritime status. The first commercially valuable freight operations took place in 1927.

The container terminal’s wharf length is roughly 1 kilometer, divided into three container berths. Furthermore, Port Elizabeth has 6 berths for dry bulk handling and 2 berths for ore bulk.

Bulk boats with a draught of 12.1 meters can safely approach the facility. At the outer anchorage, freight lightning operations for larger boats (VLOC) are also undertaken. Heavy ore carriers and tankers can access the waterway, which has a width of over 310 meters. Port Elizabeth features a berth for liquid cargo operations in addition to bulk and container handling. Over the course of 36 months, the port’s records show an average of 1050 boats. This translates to annual cargo volume operations of 11.2 to 12.5 million MT.

Cape Town’s port is located in a 2.53 square kilometers area and 9.5 square kilometers of shoreline. It was founded in 1652, with the Dutch playing an important role in its construction. The cargo port facilities, on the other hand, come from the British colonial establishment in the mid-1800s. There are 34 berths in all, including the maintenance and smaller boat stopover areas. The big container boats with seagoing draughts up to 15.9 meters are served by six container berths. The port has a waterfall and attracts thousands of fishing and tourist boats each year.

The port can handle a maximum of 24 MT of road transporters and 22 MT of cargo trains. This equals 9.84 to 11.25 million MT of containers handled every year. Up to 2015, the port received 2520 vessel calls per year. However, because of port congestion, just 510 container terminal arrivals were recorded for 2020.