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South Africa · Africa
33.9034° S, 25.6226° E
Total vessel calls
1,260
World rank
#343
Rank in South Africa
#3
of 8 ports
Share of maritime imports
8.6%
Share of maritime exports
7.8%
+10.0%
As of 2026-07-24
The latest seven complete daily observations (2026-07-18 to 2026-07-24) are compared with the mean of the eight immediately preceding same-weekday observations for each weekday. Observed and expected calls are summed before calculating the signed activity deviation. Missing days are not filled with zero.
22 observed calls vs 20 expected calls
| Vessel class | Observed calls | Expected calls | Observed mix | Expected mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Container | 6 | 5.25 | 27.3% | 26.3% |
| Dry bulk | 9 | 8.125 | 40.9% | 40.6% |
| General cargo | 3 | 1.375 | 13.6% | 6.9% |
| Ro-ro | 0 | 1.375 | 0.0% | 6.9% |
| Tanker | 4 | 3.875 | 18.2% | 19.4% |
This is a call-rate comparison only. It does not infer port operating conditions or causes.
The four named vessel types do not necessarily sum to total vessel calls. The residual shows other or unclassified calls, and the parts are not rescaled to force a 100% total.
Container
184
14.6% of total calls
Dry bulk
629
49.9% of total calls
General cargo
58
4.6% of total calls
Tanker
291
23.1% of total calls
Residual
98
7.8% of total calls
Rank 1
Mineral Products
Rank 2
Vegetable Products
Rank 3
Chemical & Allied Industries
The country's PortWatch ports record 7,591 vessel calls in total.
| Port | Vessel calls | Share of country imports |
|---|---|---|
| Durban | 2,506 | 66.3% |
| Richards Bay | 1,472 | 3.1% |
| Cape Town | 957 | 9.4% |
| Ngqura | 612 | 5.7% |
| Saldanha Bay | 545 | 5.0% |
| East London | 239 | 2.0% |
| Mossel Bay | 0 | 0.0% |
Source: IMF PortWatch port database
Methodology: Vessel counts are AIS-derived port call counts. The activity deviation compares the latest seven complete daily observations with eight immediately preceding same-weekday observations per weekday, then sums observed and expected calls before calculating a signed fraction. It is not a measure of congestion, queues, waiting, or dwell. The share_country_maritime_import and share_country_maritime_export fields are percentages of the country's maritime trade and are stored on a 0 to 100 scale. PortWatch volumes are vessel counts and metric tons, never USD. Nothing on this page may be added to a BACI value.