Port information – Africa

Africa

Abidjan

The Autonomous Port of Abidjan is a commercial port at Treichville, in southern Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is a transhipment and intermodal facility and is managed as a public industrial and commercial establishment. Port of Abidjan, one of the busiest container ports in West Africa, is constructing a second container terminal, known as Côte d’Ivoire Terminal (CIT)

They have different Terminals: 1) Container Terminal

2) Fishing Terminal

3) Roro Terminal

4) Fruit Terminal

5) Grain Terminal

6) Mineral Terminal

A modern and well-equipped container terminal with

1000 linear meters of quay
11.50 meters draft
5 berths
34 hectares of surface area for the container park
6 quay gantries with a capacity of 40-60 tonnes
16 park gantries (RTG) with a capacity of 40 tonnes
3 quay cranes (GOTTWALD) with a capacity of 100 tonnes
7 PPM/SVETRUCK machines with a capacity of 32 to 45 tons
44 RORO tractors with a capacity of 40 tons
1 GPS assisted container yard management system.

Ango Ango

Ango Ango is located on the E bank of the river Congo, approx. 2.5nm downstream from Matadi, to the S of the Chaudron d’Enfer. The port is used for the discharging of petroleum and other dangerous cargoes, also for ships not powerful enough to negotiate the Chaudron d’Enfer.

Port of Ango-Ango is one of the deep-sea ports of Congo – Kinshasa located in Ango-Ango (Congo-Democratic Re, Congo – Kinshasa. The time zone of Port of Ango-Ango is GMT+1 while the official currency is CDF. The water location of Port of Ango-Ango is Congo River (River).

AVAILABLE LIFT AND CRANES

0-24mt
25-49mt
50-99mt
100-149mt
150+mt

Algoa Bay

Algoa Bay is a maritime bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is located in the east coast, 683 kilometres east of the Cape of Good Hope. Algoa Bay is bounded in the west by Cape Recife and in the east by Cape Padrone. The bay is up to 436 m deep.

Port Durban

With at least 59 slots, Durban is among the biggest cargo ports in Southern Africa. Important industrial districts are connected to the port.

Products like HSFO, VLSFO, MGO, LSMGO and others are available. Bunkering has to be done alongside a berth as bunkering at Durban anchorage is not permitted. The vessel agent is nominated to attend to the bunkers on the vessel. The agent will then nominate the vessel with the berth planner who will allocate a berth. Due to some of the berths being cargo berths only, cargo vessels are usually given preference on these berths as there is no dedicated bunker berth. Deliveries are carried out all around the clock by all suppliers.

Cape Town

The Port of Cape Town is one of the busiest ports in South Africa. It is also the second largest container facility in the country, the first being the Port of Durban. The Port of Cape Town is located in Table Bay, which is situated at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula.

TNPA owns, operates and controls South Africa’s port system, consisting of eight commercial seaports along the South African coastline, on behalf of the State. It is responsible for the safe, effective and efficient economic functioning of the national port system.
The port remains open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but can be subject to strong winds that interfere with cargo and ship handling. An increasing number of oil supply vessels and rigs use Cape Town for repairs and refurbishment and the ship repair industry is vibrant and healthy, with A Berth having been given over as a ship repair quay. There are 34 berths in total including layby berths.

The Container Terminal contains six deep-sea berths. They are served by a fleet of post-panamax gantry cranes for the larger container ships now in service. The Multi-Purpose Terminal in Duncan Dock handles fruit, steel, paper, maize, wheat, rice, timber, coal, scrap and other general cargo, as well as passenger cruise ships.

East London

The Port of 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. The East London Harbour is proud of its reputation for good turnaround times, making it the port of choice for many. There are 12 commercial berths of various lengths, the longest of which is 250 metres.

Port office hours are between 08h00 and 16h00 Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays).

Port Volumes

East London handled a total of 330 ships during the calendar year 2015, with a gross tonnage of 11,475,890.

Port Facilities:

Like other ports of South Africa, East London is a common user port, meaning that it usually operates on a first-come-first-served basis. The port consists of a multi-Purpose Terminal (including the container terminal) on the East Bank, and a Bulk Terminal (Grain Elevator) and Car Terminal both on the West Bank.
East London port has 11 commercial berths ranging up to 250 metres in length. Fresh water is available at all berths on request. Bunkering is available (fuel and gas oil) by road tankers.

Mossel Bay

MOSSEL BAY holds a special place in South African maritime history for this is the first recorded place used regularly along the South African coast by European seafarers journeying to the East. Situated halfway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth at Longitude 22º 08′ E and Latitude 34º 08′ S, it is the smallest of the commercial harbours along the South African coast.

The harbour of Mossel Bay caters mainly for fishing and service craft for the local oil industry and handles little other commercial cargo, and therefore has little in the way of sophisticated infrastructure.
Port Facilities

The harbour of Mossel Bay caters mainly for fishing and service craft for the local oil industry and handles little other commercial cargo, and therefore has little in the way of sophisticated infrastructure.
However, the fishing industry provides an important economic boost to the Southern Cape and the local community, as has the oil industry.
Bunkering is available at quays 2,3 and 5 and on the jetty. Ship chandelling and stevedoring is available.

Port Volumes
During the 2015 calendar year Mossel Bay handled a total of 1050 vessels with a combined gross tonnage of 4,540,038-gt, of which South African trawlers constituted the majority.

Saldanha Bay

The Port of Saldanha Bay, South Africa’s largest natural anchorage and port with the deepest water is 60 nautical miles northwest of Cape Town. The port has developed into a modern harbour only recently, when it became necessary to facilitate the export of iron ore from Mines in the Northern Cape.

Port Limitations

The port of Saldanha Bay accepts vessels of up to 20.5m draught although the harbour master conditionally accepts vessels with a draught of 21.5m.
Pilotage is compulsory and tugs are required for ship working

Port Facilities

Port control operates 24 hours a day.
There are no bunkering facilities at Saldanha Bay.
A full diving service is available for ship inspection and other services but ship repair is limited mainly to the fishing industry.
Large ship repairs can however be carried out by services provided from Cape Town.

Port of Mombasa

THE PORT OF MOMBASA is one of Africa’s oldest surviving ports and can be traced back even before the arrival of the Portuguese explorers to a time when Arabian dhows called at the Old Port on the north side of Mombasa Island.

Facilities:

The port is equipped to handle a wide range of cargoes including dry bulks such as grain, fertilisers, cement and soda ash and liquid bulks such as crude oil and oil products as well as bagged products (coffee, tea, sugar, etc) break-bulk (iron and steel, timber), motor vehicles, machinery — and containerised cargo.
The port has a total of 19 deep-water berths. Six of these are for container ships, others include tanker berths, bulk and breakbulk cargo berths. Lighterage and Dhow berthing are also catered for.
The Port of Mombasa is served by road and rail to inland destinations including the capital Nairobi, and the neighbouring states of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the eastern DRC, and South Sudan.

Shipping Services

For cargo owners, the port offers a wide range of shipping services to key destinations around the world.

Mombasa’s major markets comprise Western Europe, Asia, Far East, the Americas and the rest of Africa.

Port Louis

Port Louis is home to the nation’s main harbour, which is the only official port of entry and exit for sea vessels in Mauritius. Port Louis Harbour and Port Mathurin. Both these ports are crucial for the country as they handle all the import-export trade and make significant contributions to the island nation’s growing economy.

PORT FACILITIES: The port has 16 berths divided across three terminals and a fishing port, catering for containers, general cargo including dry bulk and liquid bulk, a dedicated bulk sugar berth and fishing vessels. Passenger traffic is also catered for.
In order to efficiently handle cargo, Port Louis is equipped with the following:
- 5 Post-Panamax Gantry cranes
- 8 Rubber Tyred Gantries
- Turning circle of 450m diameter
- Storage area of 15 hectares
- 288 reefer points
- Annual throughput capacity: 550,000 TEUs.
- Container Scanner

Other port services provided by the port authority include:

workshop facilities
garbage removal

provision of fresh water supply

bunkering
ship repairs
ship chandlers
transport and logistics
bulk services, cold storage
warehousing
Freeport facilities
underwater cleaning

Port of Tema

Located on Ghana’s east coast, Tema port is the biggest and the premier port of the nation. It spans 3.9 million sq m and receives about 1650 ships every year including container ships, general cargo laden vessels, tankers, ro-ro, and also some cruise ships.

It deals with general cargo, heavy dry and liquid bulk and imported vehicles. It handles approximately 12 million tonnes of cargo annually, including petroleum, cement, aluminium goods, and textiles.
It is quite an expansive and well-planned port. It has 12 fully-operational berths. There are two other berths, one being an oil berth catering to oil tankers and the second one is managed by the Volta Aluminium Enterprise.

The Tema Shipyardis one of the biggest and most modern shipyards in the whole of Africa. It offers drydock and slipway services and spans over 48.45 acres. It is near Tema port. It has 2 docks which have a capacity of 100,000 dwt and offer dry docking and berthing services.

Port of Takoradi

The port of Takoradi is situated in western Ghana and was the nation’s first commercial port that became operational as early as 1928 to cater to the needs of the mining sector and also to deal with imported consumer products. Takoradi holds a crucial position in the region and is only 230 km from Accra.

It has 6 berths apart from separate berths for manganese and bauxite and one oil berth. Their draughts are between 8.4 m to 10 m respectively. All these are multipurpose berths and can handle ro-ro.
Takoradi port deals with a variety of exports such as manganese, bauxite, forest products, bagged cocoa beans and mining equipment. Imports include clinker, wheat, petroleum goods and containerized cargo.

Takoradi port has the latest port equipment for loading/ unloading operations. It has a 55-tonne capacity mobile crane, 15 reach stackers with a capacity of 40 tonnes, 18 ro-ro tug masters and 14 forklifts with varying capacities from 4 to 32 tonnes.

Port of Saltpond

The Port of Saltpond is a deep-seaport in the South of Ghana situated in the town of Saltpond. It is near the Gulf of Guinea and has an anchorage depth of 12.5 to 13.8 m approximately. The depth of the oil terminal is more than 23. 2 m. The depth of the water channel is 76 feet.

It is a very small port and has an open roadstead harbour. The Port’s shelter is in a bad condition and requires maintenance. It can handle only small vessels usually from neighbouring regions and not international shipments. It mainly handles small amounts of general cargo and logistic services.

Sekondi Port

The old Sekondi port is situated in Southern Ghana near the Gulf of Guinea. It is a medium-sized port and usually deals with offshore supply vessels.

Vessels measuring around 130 feet can conveniently dock at this port. The maximum draught at this port is 7.1 m and the deadweight is 13227 tonnes. It usually handles two or three vessels in a day and is not a very busy port.

The old Sekondi port is now used for fishing mainly and a naval station is located nearby.

Port of Elmina

Elmina is a small-sized port facility that mainly deals with marine goods. Situated in Southern Ghana, this port also receives many tourist ships as Elmina is also an important tourist destination. The water depth is quite low so only small fishing vessels are catered at this port.

Fishing is one of the important sectors in the nation’s economy that employs 20% of people, especially locals.

The Elmina port now has a decent infrastructure and would lead to the growth of the fishing sector, cut on post-harvest losses and make Ghana self-sufficient in the long term as it would reduce fish imports drastically.

Port of Accra

Accra Port is a deep seaport located in the Gulf of Guinea in Ghana. It is a medium-sized port that hardly sees any cargo traffic. It was once a strategic port facility for the Portuguese in the 17th century but due to surf, the maritime traffic declined and it shifted to the Port of Tema, which is nearby and now the premier port of the country.

Annaba Port

The Port of ANNABA is one of the ten (10) main Commercial Ports of ALGERIA. Its field of influence extends over twelve wilayas of the country where industrial zones with high development potential and natural resources such as iron mines, phosphates and oil fields are located.

The container terminal of the port of Annaba with an area of 16 Ha is equipped with all the superstructures necessary for its operations such as the deposit areas, a hangar (CFS) for the grouping-ungrouping of containers.

Container Terminal facilities include:

Capacity Container ship 10,000 DWT.
Ro/Ro vessel 4,000 DWT.
A Hangar (CFS) of 2400 M2.
Railroad Directly Connected to the National rail network.
A fire network.
Two (02) Scanners on carrier trucks.
The Container Terminal is managed by an information system.

Port of Alger

The port of Alger is one of the largest deep-water seaports in Algeria. The water channel of the Port of Alger is 22.9m deep and the cargo pier is 7.6m long. Major towns near the port are Wahran, Tuggurt, Adrar, Algiers and Medda.

The Main Storage Terminal has an expanse of 282 thousand square metres and is capable of storing 120,000 MT of goods. Other major facilities of Port of Alger are:

Potting and Stripping centre of 4800 square metres
A maintenance workshop of 2000 square metres
A machine park of 1000 square metres

The Port of Alger is managed and operated by Enterprise Portuaire d’ALGER (EPAL), and is coordinated by the National Corporation of Maritime Transportation and Algerian Navigation Company. The port was opened to traffic in 1998, and in 2019 it handled a total of 2200 vessel calls.

Port of Skikda

The Port of Skikda is one of the most important oil-exporting ports of Algeria. Oil from Hasi Messaoud oil fields is carried to the port and exported throughout the world from this port. This port serves as a pivotal point for Eastern and Southern Algeria and managing export and imports in the nearby Safsaf Valley.

Besides Energy Products, the port handles the export and import of metallurgical products, cereal imports, large equipment, packaged miscellaneous goods, etc.

The new port was constructed in 2014 and since then has been handling international oil exports. However, the development of infrastructure for oil pipelines and refineries had been ongoing since the 1970s.

Port of Arzew

The port of Arzew El-Djedid is solely owned and operated by SERPORT, along with the port of Bethioua. The ports are responsible majorly for hydrocarbon exports from Algeria.

The port has a channel depth of 10.4 metres, which is ideal for oil tankers and large container ships. The oil terminal is 10.4 metres deep while the cargo pier has a depth of 7.6 metres.

The maximum size of the vessel that can be accommodated in the port is 500 feet. The port has fixed cranes of 24 to 49 MT capacity, and the average annual traffic is recorded at 3000 vessels and nearly 67 million MT of cargo.

The port has ship repair and maintenance facilities, and major town centres are connected through a dense network of railroads.

Port of Oran

The port of Oran (also called as Port of Wahran) is situated right in the coastal city of Oran. It is situated in Western Alegria and is a connecting port between Morocco and the rest of the Mediterranean basin.

It has a total of 16 units of dockside cranes of 212 MT each and 19 mobile cranes of 480 MT capacity.

The port has a channel depth of 10 metres, cargo pier water depth of 4.6 metres and an oil terminal of 10.6 metres depth.

The port of Oran handles a lot of general imports and cereals as it lies on the North-South Maritime highway. Its proximity to Morocco and Spain allows major imports between Europe and Africa.

Port of Bejaia

The Port of Bejaia is a large, deep-water seaport, and is the most important oil port of the western Mediterranean. The port is connected to the Hassi Messaoud oil fields in the south through oil pipelines. The city of Bejaia has a number of cork and textile industrial units, and a major trade centre of north eastern Algeria.

The port has a channel depth of 13.7 metres which makes it suitable for large vessels and oil tankers (Panamax and Super- Panamax class ships).

The major exports handled by the Port of Bejaia since the early 2000s has been hydrocarbons and petroleum products.

Bejaia port is the only port in Algeria that has the authority of handling dangerous goods, with 6 hangers of 140,000 square metres each.

Maputo

The Port of Maputo, also called the Maputo-Matola port complex, is a Mozambican port located in the cities of Maputo and Matola. The port has significant regional potential and is handling growing volumes of trade from South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Port Limitations
Mariners have a choice of two channels for reaching the Pilot Station at Buoy 6; the North Channel and the South Channel.
Pilotage through the Xefina and Polana channels into the berths is compulsory from Buoy 6.

Port Facilities
There are two main components to the port, the Maputo Cargo Terminals, which include the Citrus, Sugar, Container, Ferro and Scrap terminals and, 6 km further upriver, the Matola Bulk Terminals with four deep-water berths for handling bulk Minerals, Petroleum, Aluminium and Grain.
In total, the port has 16 linear berths totalling approximately 4,000m.
Ship repair services, diesel bunkers and fresh water are available at all berths.

Beira

The Port of Beira is a Mozambican port located in the city of Beira, capital of the Sofala Province. It is located in Sofala Bay, which forms a huge complex with the mouth of the Pungoe River, known as the Beira estuary, facing the Mozambique Channel.

The port handles a variety of cargo from breakbulk, neo bulk and bulk including petroleum products.

Beira port has a total of 11 berths stretching over a total length of 1994 meters, excluding berth number 1, which is reserved as a fishing harbour.

Beira Harbour limitations:

Ships waiting for berthing instructions are required to anchor east of the outer channel.
Vessels awaiting berth must anchor at the bar.
The port is open 24 hours a day although night navigation is restricted to vessels up to 7m draught and LOA of 140m

Port Facilities:

The port of Beira’s facilities includes a container terminal and a general cargo terminal, both of which are concessioned to Cornelder de Moçambique. The port also has a liquid bulk facility
Beira has a small dry dock for vessels up to 110m LOA. The port has good ship chandling and stevedoring services.
Bunkering is available.

Port of Luderitz

The Port of Luderitz, located along the southern coast of Namibia caters for Southern Namibia as well as providing access to markets in the Northern Cape of South Africa.

The Port of Lüderitz offers excellent logistical services and links to other towns in Namibia and South Africa. It serves as an important base for the fishing industry and the offshore diamond and mining industries.

Port Limitations:

The length of the entrance channel to the jetty is 708m with a width of 60.9m.
The largest vessel permitted is 150m, with a draught of 8.15m and a DWT of 5,000t. Larger ships may be handled with the permission of harbour authorities.
The port works Monday to Friday 06.00 to 18.00, Saturday 06.00 to 12.00 – overtime on request.

Port facilities

Luderitz is linked with the rest of Namibia by rail and road. The port has a main concrete jetty that can accommodate ships of up to 150m.
The port handles oil cargoes at the main jetty connecting to a single pipe (gasoil and diesel). There are four bunker points on the concrete jetty. Stevedoring and ship chandling are available.

Walvis Bay

The Port of Walvis Bay, situated at the west Coast of Africa provides an easier and much faster transit route between Southern Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Port Limitations
The Chart in use for approaches to Walvis Bay is BA chart number 4134 (INT 2611)

Port Facilities
The port is a compulsory pilotage area. Requests for pilots need to be directed to the Port Captain prior to arrival. Port Control directs all shipping movements within port limits
Bunkering Fuel is provided via pipeline at Berths 1-5, and by road transport for other berths.
Bunker fuel transfers in the inner anchorage are subject to prior approval by the Marine Division of the Department of Transport and the Port Captain, and are monitored.

Tanger Med Port

Tanger Med is a Moroccan industrial port complex, located 45 km northeast of Tanger and opposite of Tarifa, Spain on the Strait of Gibraltar, with handling capacities of 9 million containers, one of the largest industrial ports in the world, and the largest port in Africa.

Port Facilities

Four container terminals with a total capacity of 9 million TEU containers
A passenger and ro-ro port with 8 berths
A hydrocarbon terminal with a storage capacity of 500,000 tons
Two car terminals with 20 hectares of storage
A bulk terminal with 450 meters of quay
Rail connections for goods and passengers

Port Gentil

Port-Gentil is a seaport in Gabon, a country on the coast of Central Africa. The city, which is a center for the petroleum industry, is on the Cape Lopez peninsula and has a sheltered harbor and beaches like Plage du Dahu.

Port of Casablanka

The Port of Casablanca refers to the collective facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade handling functions in Casablanca’s harbours and which handle Casablanca’s shipping. The port is located near Hassan.

Operated terminals

1 Containers terminal
1 multi-purpose terminal
1 Ro-Ro terminal
1 Minerals terminal

Main products

Containers, steel products, wood and wood products, big bags, coal, petroleum coke, cereals, animal feed, vehicles and machinery

Managed infrastructures
600 meters quay length with a water depth between 11 meters and 12 meters
4 berths
An area of approximately 60 ha for containers storage
400 electrical connections for refrigerated containers
1 RO-RO bridge with a capacity of 100 tons

Dakar

The Autonomous Port of Dakar is a Senegalese public enterprise which is headquartered in Dakar, located in the east of city. It is located midway between the mouths of the Gambia and Sénégal rivers on the south-eastern side of the Cape Verde Peninsula, close to Africa’s most westerly point.

The port has one of the largest deep-water seaportsalong the West African Its deep-draft structure and 640-foot-wide (200 m) access channel allows round-the-clock access to the port.
Its current infrastructureincludes tanker vessel loading and unloading terminals, a container terminal with a storage capacity of 3000 20-foot-equivalent units, a cereals and fishing port, a dedicated phosphate terminal and a privately run ship repair facility

Infrastructure

Roro Terminal
Oil Warf
Bulk Terminal
GCO- Terminal
Distribution Channel

Djibouti

The Port of Djibouti is a port in Djibouti, the capital of Djibouti. It is strategically located at the crossroads of one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, linking Europe, the Far East, the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf.

Positioned at the confluence of key international trade routes linking the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, it has evolved into a regional transhipment hub serving the major African ports and landlocked countries like Ethiopia, apart from handling the sea-borne trade of the Republic of Djibouti.

Port Facilities
Container Terminal: 2 Container Berths
Bulk Terminal: 3 Berths

Douala

The Port of Douala is the Cameroon’s major seaport. Located on the shores of the Wouri River estuary some 24 kilometers upstream and about 210 kilometers west of Yaounde.

The types of vessels regularly calling at DOUALA:

Bulk Carrier (22%),
General Cargo (8%),
Container Ship (7%),
Oil/Chemical Tanker (7%),
Passenger (6%).

Limbe

Limbe, formerly Victoria, town and port located in southwestern Cameroon. It lies along Ambas Bay in the Gulf of Guinea, at the southern foot of Mount Cameroon, just south of Buea.

The New Limbe Sea port will serve not only Cameroon to transport minerals, oil and food to and from Cameroon and other brotherly nations, it will ease the anchoring of petroleum ships for repairs coming from other countries.

The Limbe seaport will supplement Cameroon’s existing seaport in Douala, which currently handles 90% of maritime transport for Cameroon, Chad and CAR.

Mindelo

Mindelo is a port city in the northern part of the island of São Vicente in Cape Verde. Mindelo is also the seat of the parish of Nossa Senhora da Luz, and the municipality of São Vicente.

Its economy consists mainly of business, fishing, shipping, boating and more commonly tourism which developed more recently.

Pointe Noire

The types of vessels regularly calling at POINTE NOIRE

Container Ship (26%)
Passenger (10%)
Bulk Carrier (9%)
General Cargo (8%)
Offshore Supply Ship (6%).

Richards Bay

The Port of Richards Bay, which is located on the Zululand coast in the northern province of KwaZulu-Natal, is the port in South Africa that handles the most cargo.

Bunkering is provided by bunker barge or from the chemical and coal berths – berths 209, 301 and 302. Products such as HSFO, VLSFO, MGO, LSMGO etc. are generally available. Usually, the suppliers offer delivered price.