Cape Town Port (port code: ZACPT) is the Western Cape’s main seaport. It is situated on the shores of Table Bay at the north end of the Cape Peninsula.
The port consists of four main basins with a total of 34 berths; Duncan Dock and Ben Schoeman Dock are the main commercial docks and the private docks consist of the Victoria Basin and the Alfred Basin, all protected by breakwaters. The port also contains a large marina. Its container terminal at the Ben Schoeman Dock has six deep-water berths equipped with a fleet of post-Panamax gantry cranes. The multi-purpose terminal at the Duncan Dock handles a variety of cargoes that include fruit, maize, rice, wheat, paper, timber, scrap, coal, and other general cargoes. The multi-purpose terminal also serves passenger cruise ships.
The port handles approximately 8 million tons of cargo and 316,000TEU annually. The main exports leaving this port are deciduous and citrus fruit, wine, spirits and juice concentrates, fish (frozen, salted and dried), dried flowers, fresh produce (potatoes, onions), bulk polymer (yarn), canned foodstuffs, scrap metal, granite blocks, copper ingots, meat (chilled and frozen), clinker cement and corrugated cardboard cartons. The principal imports entering this port are steel goods, machinery, paper, sawn timber, logs, floor and wall tiles, chemicals, clothing and shoes, sports goods, meat (chilled and frozen) and bulk maize.
Each year about 4,000 vessels visit this port, among which around 26% are sailing vessels, and 16% are cargo vessels. The maximum length of the vessels recorded to having entered this port is 340 meters. The maximum draught is 14.4 meters. The maximum deadweight is 306,317t.