The Port of Cape Town is the
port of the
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of
Cape Town,
South Africa. It is situated in
Table Bay.
Because of its position along one of the world's busiest trade routes it is one of the busiest ports in South Africa, handling the largest amount of fresh
fruit and second only to
Durban as a
container port. The port also has significant repair and maintenance facilities that are used by several large
fishing fleets and parts of the
West African
oil industry. Because of the many
tourist attractions offered by Cape Town and its surrounding region, many
cruise ships also berth in the port.
History
The history of the port follows that of Cape Town, which traces its roots back to 6 April 1652 when
Jan van Riebeeck
Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck (21 April 1619 – 18 January 1677) was a Dutch navigator and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company.
Life
Early life
Jan van Riebeeck was born in Culemborg, as the son of a surgeon. He ...
of the
Dutch East India Company (VOC) established a revictualing station there. Earlier explorers had called it Table Bay from the late 15th century onwards.
The first harbour construction was a jetty built in 1654 by Jan van Riebeeck. Ships all anchored in the bay, and goods were transferred to and from the shore by smaller vessels. Table Bay is notorious for violent winter storms, when the wind blows on to a lee shore. Massive shipping losses were sustained by the
Dutch Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), to the extent that eventually Table Bay was closed during the winter months, and ships were ordered to use Simon's Bay (part of False Bay, where Simon's Town is now) in winter.
A vicious storm in 1858, long after the demise of the VOC, saw 30 ships blown ashore and wrecked, with huge loss of life. Lloyd's of London declined all further insurance on ships in Table Bay in winter, resulting in the British Colonial Government starting the construction, in 1860, of the first breakwater. This developed into the Victoria and Alfred Basin, the first safe harbour. There has been extensive expansion since then.
Main areas
The port evolved greatly over the centuries and currently consists of several main components:
* The
Ben Schoeman Dock
A dock (from Dutch language, Dutch ''dok'') is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The ex ...
: This is the larger outer dock of the port, where the container terminal is situated.
* The Duncan Dock: This is the smaller and the older inner dock, containing the multi-purpose and fruit terminals as well as a dry dock, repair quay and tanker basin.
* The
yachting marina
A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.
A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...
.
* The Victoria and Alfred Basins: These were the main piers of the original Cape Town harbour, but now house the
Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. However, these basins are still used by smaller commercial vessels such as fishing and pleasure boats and also by smaller passenger cruise ships.
Port operations
The port is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All vessels berthing in the port require a
pilot on board. Transfer is by
pilot boat but plans have been made to introduce a
helicopter transfer service.
Several
tug
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...
s, launches, workboats and other specialised vessels are operated by the port.
During the 2005/06 financial year, the Port of Cape Town handled 3,400 vessels for a gross tonnage of 48,778,963-gt. Total cargo handled at the port (excluding containers) was 3,718,005 tonnes; container tonnage is estimated at 9.948 million tonnes.
In 2010, the port handled 719,825 TEU.
On 30 June, 2020, Transnet introduced a number of solutions to deal with operational backlogs at the Port of Cape Town, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.
See also
*
List of ports of entry in South Africa
This is a list of ports of entry in South Africa.
Airports
Airports with regular scheduled international flights
* Cape Town International Airport (Cape Town)
* King Shaka International Airport (Durban)
* Kruger Mpumalanga International Airp ...
*
2021 Transnet Cyberattack
References
External links
Official website{{Cape Town, transport
Transport in Cape Town
Cape Town