Richards Bay/Empangeni

Description:

The city of uMhlathuze is located on the Mhlathuze River which is a 30 square kilometre lagoon and forms South Africa's largest natural harbour and include the towns of Richards Bay on the coastline and Empangeni 20 km inland.

Richards Bay originated from the Game Sanctuary that was created to protect the ecology around the lagoon and the fisherman's village was laid-out on the shores of the lagoon.

The Richards Bay estury was converted into a deep water harbour with a railway line and an oil/gas pipeline, linking the port to Johannesburg in 1976.

Richards Bay is a major hub for heavy industry such as the Coal Terminal which is the largest coal export facility in the world, aluminium smelters, a fertiliser plant, Iron ore, rutile (titanium oxide) and zircon are mined from the sand dunes close to the lagoon by Richards Bay Minerals and Tata Steel.


Richards Bay export commodities such as coal, aluminium, titanium and other heavy minerals, granite, ferrochrome, paper pulp, woodchips and phosphoric acid.

All this is supported by a diverse of downstream businesses industrial services.

The climate of Richards Bay makes it a popular kite surfing destination thanks to consistent winds blowing from the North East all year long.