According to Times Live, Transnet, the authority responsible for South Africa’s ports and harbours, has approved a dedicated cruise terminal in Cape Town’s Table Bay Harbour.

Coen Birkenstock, spokesperson for Transnet, told the Cape Times the new terminal would be completed within the next two years and would feature an arrivals and departures facility, and restrooms.

Future Cape Town has regularly been engaging on the issues surrounding the cruise terminal which includes the initial vision for Table Bay Harbour in 2040, the potential of using the E-berth as the dedicated site, the thought piece by Guy Lundy on the need for a cruise terminal and the extract from the Cruise Liner Study for Southern Africa commissioned by the National Cruise Liner Steering Committee, which evaluated the suitability of Cape Town as a homeport for cruise ships.

In addition to this, we previously sourced the views of a traveller, who shared his views about the state of the current cruise facilities, and the conditions travelers faced when arriving in and departing Cape Town.

Local government, provincial government and business, have for some time lobbied for the construction of a cruise terminal, as an important piece in the puzzle to grow demand for Cape Town, and to stimulate tourism. Opposition to the plan has often been centred around the competing priorities surrounding basic services, and the need for other pieces of infrastructure which would serve the broader Cape Town. Other rumours have suggested that the funding of the cruise terminal development may be linked to the imminent arrival of a second casino licence within the Cape Town metropolitan region.

More recently, MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, Alan Winde welcomed the first cruise liner to the Western Cape for the summer season. According to Winde, “in 2011, 19 visiting cruise liners brought approximately 11 144 passengers and 6342 crew members to the Western Cape, sustaining a significant number of jobs in our flourishing tourism industry”