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The Port of Walvis Bay
The Port of Walvis Bay is a secure, efficient, and world-class port.
The Port of Walvis Bay is strategically located halfway down Namibia’s coast and provides an easy and fast shipping route between Southern Africa, Europe, the Far East, and the Americas. This is Namibia’s largest commercial port, receiving 899 vessels and handling about 8 million tonnes of cargo per annum. The Authority complies with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS), and is certified for the following ISO standards:
The port handles container imports, exports and transshipments, and bulk and break-bulk volumes of various commodities. The port boasts a container throughput capacity of 750,000 TEUs and can handle ten million tonnes of liquid bulk cargo per annum as well as ten million tons of dry and break-bulk cargo per annum.
Namport has developed and improved its cargo handling facilities over the years to handle a higher throughput of volumes with greater efficiency. The planned road and rail transport upgrades will support the Namibian ports to remain the preferred gateway to and from the SADC region. These upgrades will reduce transit times and provide alternative transport corridors. The port’s legal jurisdiction stretches from the current port northwards up to Patrysberg, close to Swakopmund.
The port is ideally situated to serve Southern Africa’s landlocked countries with links to Namibia’s air, rail and road networks. The port’s main transport arteries are the Trans-Kalahari, Trans-Cunene and the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi trade corridors.
With mild weather conditions, delays are rare, and turnaround times are highly competitive. Handling times for container vessels are around 24 to 48 hours, depending on volumes per call. For bulk vessels, the average is between 72 to 120 hours, depending on tonnage and shipment. For break-bulk vessels, this averages between 35 to 48 hours.
The port is a deep-water harbour comprising three sections: the South Port, the Fishing Harbour and the North Port. A natural bay protects deep-water anchorage. The Port of Walvis Bay comprises 13 commercial berths including a tanker jetty, and a dedicated passenger berth for accommodating cruise and passenger vessels. The New Container Terminal, established in 2019, has an additional 600-metre-long quay wall with a maximum water depth of 16 metres.
Two new liquid bulk jetties, each of maximum capacity of 90,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT), are located at the North port with more than 1,300 hectares of backup land for tank storage of liquids and gasses and associated industries.
The Port of Walvis Bay offers ship repair facilities, including the Syncrolift, with a lifting capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes and three floating docks. The Syncrolift is operated by Namport’s subsidiary, Namibia Drydock and Ship Repair (Pty) Ltd (Namdock), with a maximum lifting capacity of 15,000 tonnes.
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