Looking east from the top observation area of the Campanile, one looks across the Port Elizabeth Harbor. One of the things you immediately notice are the cars waiting for export. With both General Motors and VW have big export contracts, a lot of cars get moved through the harbour which means that there are a number of car ships docking every week.
The Port Elizabeth Harbour plays hosts to massive car carriers like this one several times a week. Both General Motors and VW have big export contracts which means that cars manufactured in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage goes all over the world through the PE harbour.
I was very fortunate to spend some time with a film crew shooting footage for the FIFA host city profiles to be broadcasted during 2010 recently. I did have to get up really early a couple of mornings as the guys wanted to get various good sunrise locations. This specific morning we were standing on the Settlers Freeway looking out over the harbour at sunrise. I posted a couple of similar shots I took from here a few of days…
A big container ship entering the Port Elizabeth harbour as seen from the pier at Hobie Beach
Sticking to yesterday's harbour theme. The left hand boat (the yellow one for those who don't know their left from their right) is the harbour pilot boat while the right hand one is one of the Port Elizabeth Harbour's tugs. The pilot boat takes the harbour pilot out to the big ships. The pilot then steers the ship into the harbour and not the ship's actual captain. The tugs are the boats that push and pull the big ships into…
One of the comments on my previous post, Chokka Boats at sunrise, came from Barry. He's comment was as follow: "Thank's for the photos of the surrounding areas- great for the tourists. But in addition to the postcard shots, how about some "real" shots of the city itself? Surely the industrial areas, suburbs and city centre are what a city is all about?" So in response to this, I want to make a statement and then a promise. Statement: I…
The Port Elizabeth harbour was built in 1935 and is used for the export of fruit, mohair, cars and manganese ore. It also has a very active container terminal as well as fishing fleet. The entrance channel to the harbour is maintained at a depth of 14.5m and has a generous width of 310m. The draught of vessels allowed into the harbour range from 9.6m to 12.1m. A lot of the current activities taking place at the PE Harbour will…
A couple of container ships lying at berth in the Port Elizabeth harbour. The PE harbour was built in the 1930's and is the 5th largest harbour in South Africa after Durban, Cape Town, Richards Bay and Saldanha Bay. The new industrial harbour at Coega will take over certain functions that is currently being done in the Port Elizabeth harbour, but it won't replace it. One of the things it will be able to do is to take ships that…
I will never tire of watching the big ships being shepherded in and out of the harbour by the powerful little tugs, this was around 5am last Saturday. You can see the Port Captains watch tower in the background.