EISBEIN 2025 – Partner country South Africa

The 75th EISBEINESSEN of the Association of Hamburg and Bremen Shipbrokers (VHBS) on November 7, 2025, will feature another premiere: the Republic of South Africa as partner country. “We are delighted that our colleagues from the South African Association of Ship Operators and Agents (SAASOA) have accepted our invitation,” said Chairman Christian Koopmann. “This means that South Africa will not only hold the G20 presidency this year, but will also be the first African partner country ever to take part in an EISBEINESSEN.”

With the nomination of South Africa, the VHBS board not only wants to highlight the particularly close relations between German ports and South Africa, but also to point out the increased importance of African economies in general.

In 2024, a good 13.1 million tons were traded between Germany and South Africa. This put the country in 18th place in the global ranking of Germany’s trading partners in terms of tonnage volume. South Africa is Germany’s most important trading partner on the African continent, also in monetary terms. Preliminary data for 2024 show imports of 12.047 million tons. Exports to South Africa amounted to 1.085 million tons. The most important imports from South Africa were iron ore and coal, but also agricultural products. Exports to South Africa include chemical products (fertilizers), motor vehicles and parts, and metals.

According to Hamburg Port Marketing, a total of 2.7 million tons of seaborne goods were transshipped to South Africa via Hamburg last year (ranking 12th). This is mainly due to the previously stronger imports of iron ore (around +1 million tons). In 2024, 366,000 tons were shipped by sea from the Port of Hamburg to South Africa, 57% of which was container traffic. Fertilizers, pig iron, and steel are the main components of the shipping list. In third place are milled and husked products, which are used as animal feed.

In 2024, around 25,000 TEU were moved in container traffic between Hamburg and South Africa. According to Hamburg Port Marketing, Hamburg thus achieved a market share of only 16% in direct traffic with South Africa, while the ports of Bremen recorded a share of 84% with 144,000 TEU. The port of Durban is South Africa’s busiest port, handling 2.65 million TEU in 2024, which accounts for 62% of South Africa’s total container throughput.

For the first time in its 75-year history, there will be a parallel Eisbeinessen in the partner country, which will be organized by our colleagues from ICS Branch South Africa in Durban.