With South Africa touching the Indian Ocean on its east and the South Atlantic on its West coast, it allows cargo and cruise vessels 3-way access to the major ports in South Africa. Long-route Carriers and other vessels find South Africa a suitable bunker port with its geographical location.

The port of Cape Town’s establishment dates back to 1652 with a big part of the contribution by the Dutch. The cargo port facilities date onward to the mid-1800s with the British colonial setup.

The port has 34 berths, including the repair and smaller boat layovers. 6 container berths serve the large container vessels with sea-going draughts up to 15.9 meters.

The port has a maximum of 24 metric ton handling capacity for road hauliers and 22 metric tons for cargo trains. The port facility has grain centres to handle sensitive grain cargo. Repair and drydock yards with a length of 369 meters are available for large vessels.

Commonly known as “Saldanha Bay”.The Port of Saldanha is South Africa’s largest natural anchorage and port with the deepest water 60 nautical miles northwest of Cape Town. It is one of the fastest Iron Ore terminals, the terminal existence dates back to 1976 with Iron Ore exports to Asia and the Middle East leading the operations.

The facility is a primary loading point for cape-size bulk carriers and large crude carriers. It operates with 2 Iron Ore and 1 Crude oil berth and 3 berths for multi-purpose vessels. The maximum berth length is 318.5 meters.

The port of Saldanha operates with a conveyor loading system of a semi-automatic nature. The loading design features 3 hydraulic rams of 16” design and no crane operations.

Mossel Bay holds a rich maritime history for this is the first recorded place used regularly along the South African coast by European seafarers journeying to the East. It is situated halfway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, it is the smallest of the commercial harbours along the South African coast.

The maximum permissible draught is 6.5m. Ships anchoring outside the port must keep clear of the approaches to the entrance channel. Inside the harbour vessels of up to 130m and a 6.5m draught can be accommodated at landing 4. There is a slipway for ship repair up to 200 tonnes. The catenary buoy mooring caters to ships up to 32,000 deadweight tonnages with a maximum length of 204m and draught of 12m. Ship movements are permitted during daylight hours only. The second mooring is a single-point mooring connected to three hoses and is used primarily for the export of PetroSA (formally Mossgas Pty Ltd) products.

*Mossel Bay does not handle containers.

The first mention of Port Elizabeth along the South African Sea coast dates back to 1427. However, the British establishment in the 1830s is the beginning of its harbour status. The cargo operations of true commercial value date back to the year 1927.

The quay length for the container terminal is approximately 1 km spread across 3 container berths, 6 berths for break bulk handling 2 for ore bulk, and 1 liquid cargo berth for bunker operations. The port network facilitates 1680 reefer points for temperature-sensitive cargo handling. The terminal allows bulk vessels with 12.1 m of draught to enter. Cargo lightning operations for the bigger vessels take place at the outer anchorage. The channel allows over 310 meters of width for large ore carriers and tankers to enter.

The port of Coega is also commonly known by its new name – Port Ngqura. The port lies some 20 km northeast of Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) and is South Africa’s 8th and latest commercial port development. Ngqura is the newest and deepest terminal for container loading with the highest draft amongst South African ports. The port is of deepwater construction capable of serving post-Panamax dry and liquid bulkers and the new generation of cellular container ships.

The berth draft is 18 meters for container handling and 16.5 to 18 meters for general cargo. 7 berths operate round the clock for yearly cargo operations. The facility is 20 km from the nearest neighbouring port of Port Elizabeth and compliments Richards Bay too.

As part of our commitment to service delivery excellence, AB Shipping Services, continues to improve our operations and services with training, up-to-date licenses, and association registrations in the industry and port authorities.