South Africa - International Franchise Association

distributors who sell to wholesalers and/or retailers who in turn sell to end-users. There
may be more middlemen within the chain, depending on the arrangement worked out by
the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
In South Africa, each industry sector has but a handful of major distributors, but often
hundreds of small players. Major players prefer an exclusive agent/distributor
agreement with the foreign firm. Most South Africa imports are handled through the
country’s largest airport in Johannesburg or through one of three of the country’s ports:
Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
The major distribution point is Johannesburg that has bonded inland port status for
custom and excise purposes.
• Johannesburg
The city of Johannesburg is the commercial and financial hub of South Africa. As the
country's transportation hub, it is the center for all aviation, rail and road infrastructure. It
also has the continent's busiest international airport, which can handle 20 million
passengers and 400 000 metric tons of cargo annually. The headquarters of the
National Ports Authority of South Africa (NPA) is also located in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg is one of the world’s few major cities located on neither the ocean nor a
major river. Yet, ironically, it hosts the largest and busiest “port” in Africa – an exportimport
freight container terminal called City Deep, which handles 30 percent of South
Africa’s exports.
• Durban
Durban is the busiest ocean port in Africa, and the Durban Container Terminal is the largest
and best-equipped container terminal in the southern hemisphere. Durban’s location on the
eastern coast of South Africa makes the terminal a pivotal hub for the entire Southern African
region of the Indian and South Atlantic oceans, serving trade routes linking North and South
America with the Middle East, India, Asia and Australia. The terminal also serves as a crucial
interface for the distribution of cargoes between ocean carriers and the markets of South
Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Zaire. On the landside, there is direct connection
with surface transport via rail sidings and also speedy connection to South Africa’s trunk road
network. The facility handles in excess of 4,000 ships annually, with an estimated gross
tonnage of 81,700,000. Containers handled at Durban port represent 64 percent of the total
number of containers handled at South African ports. Durban port is currently undergoing
extensive upgrades aimed at both increasing efficiencies and net capacity
• Cape Town
Cape Town, located at the southern-most point of Africa, is ideally positioned as a hub
terminal for cargo to South America and the Far East. West/East Africa cargo has grown
substantially, making the Cape Town Container Terminal the terminal of choice for transshipment
cargo. The terminal currently handles 3,161 vessels per year for a gross tonnage
of 44,501,297.
• Port Elizabeth
The Port Elizabeth Container Terminal is one of the three specialized container-handling
facilities along the South African coastline. Port Elizabeth serves the immediate area of
the Eastern Cape where its main business focuses on the needs and requirements of
the motor vehicle and components industry as well as various agricultural products. The
terminal offers value-added services in the form of storage, packing and unpacking of