The V&A Waterfront is investing R230 million (around €11.5 million) in a superyacht marina at Cape Town’s harbour precinct. The Quay 7 Superyacht Marina, due for completion in October 2026, will be the first Gold Anchor-accredited facility in the region and forms part of the wider R20 billion (around €1 billion) Granger Bay precinct expansion. The move comes as the fleet is increasingly rerouted away from the Red Sea and facing a Mediterranean berth market under mounting capacity pressure.

V&A Waterfront CEO Graham Wood says the marina will address a market reality that has been building for years. “Superyacht visits have grown steadily since 2009, and we welcomed 35 vessels in the 2024/25 season alone. Many stay for extended periods – six months, sometimes a year – because Cape Town offers a unique mix: world-class tourism, reliable marine services, and access to adventure cruising routes that simply don’t exist in traditional yachting hubs.”

The facility will offer eight berths, six stern-to and two beam-on, for vessels between 30 and 90 metres, with floating jetties providing electricity, water and Wi-Fi. Bonded fuel will be available at Elbow Quay through the newly tenanted FFS refuelling facility, and the site has direct access to the Syncrolift and Robinson Dry Dock for repair and refit work. A concierge lounge of approximately 114 square metres will serve visiting vessels and their crews.

The marina has also been designed with a secondary function that reflects Cape Town’s existing industrial base. During the off-season, the berths will support commissioning and export staging for the city’s catamaran manufacturing sector, which includes Robertson and Caine, Two Oceans Marine and Balance Catamarans, builders with strong international export markets but limited local berthing for finished vessels.

“This isn’t only a leisure marina, it’s economic infrastructure,” says Andre Blaine, Executive: Marine & Industrial Property at V&A Waterfront. “It creates sustained demand for fuel suppliers, provisioning companies, marine engineers, crew training facilities, and logistics operators. It supports local manufacturers who need berthing space for commissioning. And it positions Cape Town as a credible technical hub, not just a beautiful harbour.”

The V&A Waterfront estimates the facility will generate sustained downstream demand across fuel supply, provisioning, marine engineering and crew training, a supply chain the city’s marine services sector is already positioned to absorb.

Cape Town’s position at the junction of the Atlantic, Indian and Southern Oceans has long been cited as an asset for Antarctic expeditions and long-haul passage work. More than 30,000 commercial and tourism vessels pass the Cape annually, and the cruise season has already extended from seven to nine months. What the city has lacked is berthing infrastructure built to the standards the market expects.

“This new marina formalises what the market has been signalling for years: Cape Town belongs on the global maritime circuit,” says Blaine.