Cape Agulhas Route links Asia, India, Australia and the Arabian Gulf to South America, West Africa, while South Africa-bound ships also pass the Cape.

Important cargoes that pass Cape Agulhas – Containers, oil, oil products; grain; minerals, steel

Times when Cape Agulhas was in the news – Prior to the opening of the Suez Canal, the Cape Agulhas route was the only sea route between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Its importance declined when the Suez Canal opened in 1869. During World War 2, the Cape Agulhas route became very busy because the Mediterranean Sea was a war zone where ships were likely to be attacked as they passed through. Thus the Cape Route was preferred although 152 ships were lost to enemy action off the southern African coast in that war. The Suez Canal was closed from October 1956 to March 1957 and from June 1967 to May 1995 due to hostilities in the area around the Canal. For a while on each occasion, the canal was physically blocked as bridges were bombed and ships were sunk in the Canal. During times when the Canal was closed, thousands of ships were diverted to the Cape Route, making the route via Cape Agulhas extremely important.

Important Note : About 50 ships pass Cape Agulhas each day. Some of these ships call at South African ports to work cargo or for bunkers; others bypass the country’s ports. It is important that more of these passing ships should be attracted to call at South African ports for bunkers or maintenance as every ship calling for bunkers will spend about R1 million (or more) on items excluding the fuel for which she came. These items include port dues, tugs, Pilotage, stores, transport, and other items of expenditure. Strategies (e.g. reduced port dues for bunkers-only callers) should be devised to ensure that more ships call at South African ports.