In 1824 the first European settlers made a landing in Durban Bay with the intention of setting up a trading post. But the Port itself dates from 1840 when the first harbourmaster was appointed. The port occupies one of the few natural harbours on the east coast of Africa.
Today Durban Port is Africa’s largest container port handling over 1.2 million containers (or approximately two-thirds of South Africa’s container traffic). It currently handles the largest volume of sea-going traffic in southern Africa. In 2001, over 4000 vessels were loaded or unloaded at the port, and the forms of cargo gives some idea of the nature of the port:
- Oil and petroleum products - 24 million tonnes
- Containerised cargo - 16.4 million tonnes
- Bulk cargo - 7.5 million tonnes
- Break bulk cargo - 7.9 million tonnes
- Total cargo - 55.8 million tonnes
The port of Durban has huge importance to the South African economy. It provides the largest facility for the import and export of vehicles, has three grain-handling facilities, a passenger terminal, extensive ship repair facilities (including two floating docks) and three marinas.
Walking through such a port the importance of the goods being unloaded is not obvious. This photograph shows massive rectangular blocks of granite. These blocks have been brought to Durban from India in vessels similar to that to the right of the image. The blocks are shaped to fit the containers, one of which can be seen on the left.
These granite blocks appear unremarkable, but they are to be made into headstones for graves like that shown in Photo 21. Not only is there a serious shortage of such materials in South Africa there is also an increasing shortage of land for burials.
Ideas for further exploration:
- Obtain information from the internet on one of the UK’s major container ports (e.g. Felixstowe) and compare it with Durban in terms of the number of containers dealt with in a year.
- Source a good map and/or aerial photograph of the port of Durban. Make a list of the positive and negative aspects of the port using this as a resource.
- If you look closely at this photograph you will see a large rounded building across the bay. What do you think this is for? Where might the goods come from?
<<< back to image menu
Current conversations
What our website visitors are talking about.