Port of Cape Town
Port of Cape Town
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Port of Cape Town is situated in Table Bay at Longitude
18.26 E and Latitude 33.54 S, and lies 120 nautical miles
northwest of Cape Agulhas (the southernmost point of
Africa).
Cape Town is South Africa’s second busiest container
port,
after Durban, handling approximately 570,000 movements per
annum. The major break bulk commodities handled are fresh
fruit, petroleum products, iron & steel, fertiliser,
barley, maize, wheat and chemicals.
Port of Cape Town is a preferred export mode for the fruit
industry with reduced sailing times to Northern Hemisphere
destinations compared to Durban. Fruit is consigned via
Cape Town from as far afield as Limpopo, Mpumalanga and
Swaziland. The port also handled export fish from the
South
African and Namibian fishing industries to Europe and the
Far East. The port also retains a strategic and economic importance
as the main way station on the South Atlantic route around
Africa, which provides the principal alternative to Suez,
and is the normal east-west route for bulk super tankers.
The deep sea fishing industry uses Cape Town and Saldanha
as its main bases and numbers of Far Eastern fishing
vessels are based at Cape Town for a large part of the
year
and contribute to the revenues from bunkering,
chandelling,
and repair services.
Far East Trawlers in Cape Town Harbour
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The port also provides services to the emerging oil
industry in West Africa in support, repair and maintenance
facilities, with the deep entrance and complete repair
capabilities being especially attractive for work on
offshore drilling platforms. An increasing number of oil
supply vessels and rigs use Cape Town for repairs and
refurbishment and the ship repair industry benefits from
the availability of the Repair Quay and Sturrock graving
dock.
Cape Town is also a preferred port of call for cruise
ships, on round the world, tourist voyages as it provides
an interesting stop over, excursions into the wine lands
and countryside and has direct airline connections to most
parts of the world. Some smaller and medium size passenger
ships make use of the V&A Waterfront berths while larger
ships dock in the main harbour.
The port works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but is
occasionally closed down due to the very strong south-east
gale force winds in winter, (April to September) that
interfere with berthing, and cargo handling, as container
movements are dangerous under such conditions.
The port is sheltered from the prevailing south-easterly
winds and the breakwater extensions to the west of the
Main
Quay and the Eastern Mole protect the outer Ben Schoeman
Dock without obstructing the channel into the inner Duncan
Dock. The repair facilities and the Tanker Basin are
inside
the confines of the Duncan Dock, with the Small Craft
Harbour sheltered at the East end of the harbour.
For more specific information regarding the Port of Cape
Town use the links below.
Dimensions and Navigation.
Layout of Berths and Facilities.
Port Utilisation.
Click here for map of the harbour layout
Cruise Ship
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Port VolumesLinks to Cargo volume tables for the Port of Cape Town are
list below.
Details of Total Cargo Handled in 2004.
Details of Import Export Commodities in
2004.
Details of Coastwise Movements in 2004.
Details of Container Movements in 2004.
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