Welcome to Maritime Branch

South Africa has three thousand (3000) kilometers coastline, correctly positioned along the sea trading route. We have the world’s largest bulk coal terminal port in Richard Bay

Durban Port is the busiest in Africa and the largest container facility in the Southern Africa. The Port of Ngqura is the deepest container terminal in Africa. The Port of Cape Town is the biggest refrigerated container facility in Africa. Saldhana Bay is the largest port in Africa by water footprint. South Africa is among the top fifteen (15) countries that trade by sea

South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) is spearheading a cadetship programme with higher education institutions, resulting in 124 cadets being placed on 18 partner vessels

In volume terms, more than 96 percent of the country’s imports and exports move by sea transportation. From the 1st January 2014, we have introduced a new shipping tax regime for international shipping which exempts the qualifying ship owners from paying Income tax, Capital gains tax, Dividend tax and Withholding tax on interest for years of assessment

We believe this tax exemption will undoubtedly encourage the South African Ship Register to be sought-after internationally. We have also increased the mortgage ranking for financial institutions supporting the maritime sector – particularly, those that finance ship purchasers. the Port Regulator has also brought great certainty and predictability within our Ports Regulator framework by publishing a multi-year Tariff Methodology and manual on which, for instance, the 2015/16 tariff is to be based. SAMSA has rolled out the Maritime Safety Programme with specific focus on ship safety inspection programmes which have resulted to NO reported ship losses in our waters