Grindrod

  Grindrod is the holding company of Unicorn Tankers and Island View Shipping and several other subsidiary companies. The following are some important events in the history of Grindrod. Besides those listed here, Grindrod has bought a number of other companies to grow its operations to become a leader in teh South African maritime industry…

Major shipping companies that operate to and in South Africa

Among the shipping companies that operate within South Africa are the following: Maersk Line Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Safmarine Evergreen Shipping Mitsui-OSK Line (MOL) Maritime Carrier Services (MACS) K Line Deutsche Afrika Linien Pacific International Line BP Tankers Grindrod African Marine Solutions (AMSOL) Nile-Dutch Shipping Major shipping companies Slide 1 of 9 Based in Copenhagen,…

Maritime Carrier Services (MACS)

Teach Yourself As you read through the article, you will find reference to MACS (Maritime Carrier Services) GAL (Gulf Africa Line) and TAL (Trans-Atlantic Line) Now make a note of major events in the life of this interesting company; trades on which each Line operates; the type of ship operated on the various trades; and…

Port management structures

The building that houses Cape Town’s Port Control Office (the glassed area near the top of the tower) as well as the offices of the Harbour Master, Harbour Manager and several other administrative functions. A harbour for merchant ships usually has two divisions : The Marine Division is responsible for the safe movement and mooring…

The history of Cape Town harbour

After the successful rounding of the Cape by Portuguese fleets in 1487 (commanded by Batholomias Diaz) and 1497 (commanded by Vasco da Gama), several other fleets also came this way. Besides the Portuguese, Dutch and British fleets also came to the Cape, but, in 1652, the Dutch were the first to develop a settlement at…

Port location, construction and operations

To work their cargoes safely and efficiently, ships need to be alongside a sheltered wharf onto which they can discharge their cargoes or from which they can load their cargoes. Therefore, if a lot of cargo will be moved and a lot of ships will call to load or discharge cargo, a harbour needs to…

Rejuvenation of derelict harbour zones

Reasons for dereliction of harbour areas, and reasons for rejuvenation Case Study: Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town The Alfred Basin (completed 1870) and then the Victoria Basin (completed 1917) were the main harbour areas for Cape Town. Ships once crowded these areas to embark and disembark passengers as well as to load and discharge cargoes. However,…

International Date Line

The International Date Line (Date Line) is one of the strangest aspects of a study of time zones. Although it follows the general course along the 180O Line of Longitude, it does not run through any country, but runs only through the ocean in that area. As it avoids passing through any land to avoid…

International time zones

Universal Standard Time (UST) is the sun time on the Greenwich Meridian. Countries work out their Standard Time relative to the position of their longitude west or east of the Greenwich Meridian. As South Africa takes its time from 30˚ East of Greenwich and therefore two hours ahead of UST, South African Standard Time (SAST)…