Port of Port Elizabeth
Situated in Algoa Bay, mid way between Durban and Cape Town, lies the Port of Port Elizabeth. Most of the cargo the passes through the Port of Port Elizabeth, is either destined for the City of Port Elizabeth, or its surrounding areas. Due to Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage being home to large motor industries, there are vast amounts of motor parts and raw materials being shipped to the Port Elizabeth Port. Most of the products that are exported are products such as timber, citrus, wool, textiles and hides.
In early years of Vasco da Gama and Bartholomeu Diaz, the Port in Port Elizabeth was marked on their maps, as a landing place with fresh water. With the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820, the port finally achieved port status in 1825, and the construction to build a port jetty, began in 1837.
Today the Port Elizabeth port has three tug boats and Pilot services that are available every day of the week, and 24 hours a day. Dredgers from either Durban or Richards Bay provide dredging services to the Port of Port Elizabeth, and the National Sea Rescue Institute also has a base established in the port.
The Port in Port Elizabeth handled 3 983 054 tonnes of cargo and 1 390 ships during the course of 2005 and 2006, excluding containers. The container terminal deals mostly with fruits and is also used as a manganese terminal. The terminal has the capacity to accommodate 375 000 TEU’s and the convenience of being able to off load directly onto the trains, decreases the handling time, and increases the delivery speed. As mentioned before, motor vehicle parts make up the most of the import containers, with the other commodities, for example wool, steel and timber.
Also available at the Port of Port Elizabeth are bunker facilities, and ore and tanker berths, with diesel oil at the Dom Pedro Quay. Even though the Port Elizabeth port has a variety of facilities available, including a yacht club and marina, it stands to lose much of its business to the new Port of Ngqura, the Coega Project, that is scheduled to open in 2008/2009.
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