Porto Grande Bay (), also Mindelo Bay, is a
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
on the north coast of the island of
São Vicente,
Cape Verde
Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
. The main city of São Vicente,
, is situated at the bay. The Porto Grande Bay is a natural harbour. It stretches between the headlands
Ponta João Ribeiro
Ponta João Ribeiro is a cape in the northern part of the island of São Vicente, Cape Verde. It is 2.5 km northwest of the city centre of Mindelo. The cape divides the Canal de São Vicente and the Porto Grande Bay. The islet of Ilhéu dos ...
in the northeast and Ponta do
Morro Branco in the west. To the northwest it opens towards the
Canal de São Vicente
The Canal de São Vicente is a strait of the Atlantic Ocean separating the islands of Santo Antão, Cape Verde, Santo Antão and São Vicente, Cape Verde, São Vicente, Cape Verde. At its narrowest point, it is wide. The ferry route between the p ...
, the channel between the islands São Vicente and
Santo Antão. The small rocky islet
Ilhéu dos Pássaros
Ilhéu dos Pássaros is an uninhabited rocky islet in the bay of Mindelo, São Vicente Island, Cape Verde. It lies about west of the headland Ponta João Ribeiro, and northwest of Mindelo city centre. It lies between the Porto Grande Bay and ...
lies north of the bay.
Port facilities
The port is owned and operated by
ENAPOR, the Cape Verdean port authority. Since the latest modernization in 2014, the port has 4 long quays, 4 shorter quays, a quay for fishing boats with fish processing installations, a
container terminal
A container port, container terminal, or intermodal terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land v ...
(expanded and modernized in 1997), 2
roll-on/roll-off ramps and 3 passenger terminals. The total length of the quays is 1,560 m, and the maximum depth is 12 m.
With 847,602 metric tonnes of cargo and 350,213 passengers handled (2017),
[ it is the busiest port of Cape Verde. There are ferry services to the islands of Santo Antão, São Nicolau, ]Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
and Sal.Cabo Verde Fast Ferry's website
/ref>
Gallery
File:Mindelo.jpg, The Harbor of Mindelo facing Monte Verde
File:20121027-IMG 1049.jpg, The city of Mindelo with a view of its bay
File:Cabo_2010_Monte_Cara.jpg, Porto Grande Bay with Monte Cara
File:CV-mind-hafenzufahrt.jpg, A monument located at the port's entrance west of Fortinho
References
External links
Photo of Porto Grande in 1948
{{Shipping in Cape Verde
Bays of Cape Verde
Geography of São Vicente, Cape Verde
Transport in São Vicente, Cape Verde
Ports and harbours of Cape Verde
Economy of Cape Verde
Mindelo