Akorn Destination Management

Cape Town is located on the southwestern tip of the African continent. Cape Town Harbour is comprised of an industrial port and the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Complex (V&A Complex) which is a combination of shopping malls, entertainment areas and restaurants. There are two main piers used for cruise ships, depending on availability and/or size of the cruise ship.

Durban is the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal. Durban's port has a well-equipped passenger terminal at N-berth on the T-Jetty for the convenience of cruise ships, which operate mostly between November and May. An attractive Harbour Expo Market is mounted in the air-conditioned N-shed while cruise ships are in port.

East London is South Africa's only remaining river port and is situated at the mouth of the Buffalo River in the East Cape Province. There are a total of 12 commercial berths plus a repair quay of 110 metres, a pilot jetty and a fishing jetty next to the small Latimer's Landing Waterfront.

Mossel Bay, located in the Western Cape province, is a common user port with ships worked on a first come first served basis. Berthing is subject to wind and swell conditions. Mossel Bay caters mainly for fishing and service craft for the local oil industry and handles little other commercial cargo, as such the harbour has little in the way of sophisticated infrastructure. However the fishing industry provides an important economic boost to the Southern Cape and local community.

Port Elizabeth, also known as Nelson Mandela Bay, is located in the Eastern Cape Province and is one of South Africa's major seaports. The port's main features are the container terminal, fruit terminal and manganese terminal. Motor vehicle components constitute a large percentage of the container traffic at Port Elizabeth, while the major bulk export is manganese ore.

Richards Bay is located in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa and is one of the country's largest harbours. Richards Bay consists of a Dry Bulk Terminal, a Multi Purpose Terminal and the privately operated Coal Terminal which is the largest coal export facility in the world. Cruise ships make use of either the small craft berth or one of the normal cargo handling berths depending on the size of the ships.

Walvis Bay is the tourism activity centre of Namibia and the plankton-rich waters attract large numbers of whales. The port itself is the only natural harbour along the Namibian coast. The port has a 1,400 metre long quay wall divided into berths 1 to 8. There is also a dolphin type tanker berth catering to tankers up to 192 metres in length and a maximum 10 metre draught. Cargo handled at Walvis Bay includes bulk cargoes of salt, coal, fluorspar, manganese ore and mineral concentrate.

Mozambique is truly an exotic and rewarding cruise destination, although one must remember that it is a developing country and therefore differs markedly from South Africa. This section looks at three of the most visited ports in Mozambique: Beira, Maputo and Ilha de Mocambique (Mozambique Island).