Serving international removals, relocation and shipping from the UK to Cape Town, Western Cape. Kaapstad
Cape Town clears at Table Bay, which puts the port about twenty minutes from most delivery addresses. The difficulty is not the sea leg. It is the last two hundred metres, because a great deal of the city sits on a mountain and the streets were laid out long before anyone shipped a forty foot container.
The City Bowl runs uphill from the foreshore in a grid of one way streets that narrow as they climb. Kloof Nek, Oranjezicht and Tamboerskloof all have addresses a rigid lorry cannot reach, and a shuttle from a holding point is normal rather than exceptional. Higgovale is worse again.
Wind is the other local factor. The south easter blows hard through summer and Table Bay handling stops when it gets above working limits, which occasionally shifts a berthing slot by a day or two. A moving company that runs the Cape builds that into the schedule instead of promising a date it cannot hold.
International Removals Companies is a free enquiry matching service operated by DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, company 07425576. It is not an international moving company, owns no vehicles and carries out no removals itself. One enquiry reaches a single vetted mover already running this route. If they cannot hold your dates, a second network firm takes it on.
Table Bay is the second busiest container port in the country and the natural arrival point for anything bound for the Western Cape. From the terminal the N1 runs north through Century City and the N2 runs east past the airport, which between them cover most delivery addresses inside an hour.
Steep, narrow and one way in most directions. Gardens and Vredehoek have flats with stair access only, and Higgovale addresses often need a shuttle vehicle. Parking suspension is usually required and the City of Cape Town wants notice for it.
Camps Bay, Clifton and Bantry Bay sit on hairpins cut into the slope. Driveways are short and steep, many properties open onto the road with no turning space, and Victoria Road backs up badly in December and January.
Constantia, Newlands and Bishopscourt have the large stands, which sounds easier and is not. The lanes are narrow, the oaks are low and overhanging, and gate widths on older properties were built for a bakkie rather than a pantechnicon.
A removal van and a single man is the wrong tool for this job. Goods travel by sea in a full or shared container, and the local vehicle is only the last stage of it.
Send your UK collection address, the Cape Town delivery address with any estate, complex or access notes, and a rough inventory. Send your UK collection address, the delivery address with any estate or complex access notes, and a rough inventory. It goes to one vetted network firm that already covers the route. They contact you, survey the move and confirm the quote. It is free, with no obligation.
Get your free Cape Town removals quoteHousehold effects entering South Africa on a permanent change of residence qualify for relief from duty and VAT under rebate item 407.06 of Schedule No 4 to the Customs and Excise Act. VAT is 15 per cent, so the relief is worth claiming properly. Motor vehicles, alcohol and tobacco are excluded from it.
The entry needs form DA 304 with form P1.160 and a specified inventory of the container contents. Returning South African residents must show at least six months abroad for reasons other than touring or studying. Nothing under the rebate may be sold or disposed of within six months of clearance without the duty falling due.
Load shedding still shapes the working day in parts of the city. Lifts in older blocks stop, electric gates fail closed, and a delivery booked for a shedding window can lose two hours. Check the schedule for your suburb before you fix a date.
Water restrictions have eased since the 2018 crisis but many complexes still run their own rules on hoses and washing down. It rarely affects a delivery, though it is worth knowing before you plan to clean a garage on arrival.
Source: SARS Schedule No 4 to the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964, published version dated 12 June 2026. Check current requirements at sars.gov.za before shipping.
Not every moving company runs this route often. The moving companies that do keep movers on it who know the port, and a mover learning the route on your container is not the same thing. Network firms hold FIDI FAIM certification, audited by Ernst & Young against more than two hundred criteria. Alongside that sit BAR Overseas, IAM, EUROMOVERS and FEDEMAC memberships. We are a Working Member of AGM Group.
The firm matched to you handles the export packing, the sea freight, the SARS entry and the delivery in Cape Town as one job rather than four.
Currency exchange comes with the service through our partners: experts in currency exchange, no hidden fees, five star consumer ratings and competitive exchange rates. Rand transfers usually need arranging before completion, so it is worth starting early.
Table Bay, in the Port of Cape Town, roughly twenty minutes from the city centre. It is the natural arrival point for the whole Western Cape and for the western end of the Garden Route. Clearance happens there through SARS before the container is released for the road leg. Sailings are less frequent than to Durban, so the sea leg is often the longer wait rather than the clearance.
Frequently not. The streets above Kloof Street narrow and turn as they climb, several are one way, and a forty foot vehicle cannot turn at the top of most of them. The usual answer is a shuttle: the container is unloaded at a holding point and the goods brought up in a smaller vehicle. Say the street name at survey stage so this gets priced properly.
Usually yes in the City Bowl, the Atlantic Seaboard and parts of the Southern Suburbs. The City of Cape Town issues temporary parking suspensions and wants notice, which varies by area and by time of year. Complexes and sectional title blocks set their own rules on top, often restricting deliveries to weekday working hours.
It can. The wind runs hard from roughly November through February and container handling at Table Bay stops when gusts exceed the safe working limit for the cranes. It rarely costs more than a day or two, but if you have booked a delivery for the day after berthing, build in slack. Movers who work the Cape plan around it as routine.
It depends on volume, on whether you take a part load or a container to yourself, and heavily on access at the delivery address. A Constantia driveway and a Higgovale walk up are priced very differently even for identical inventories. We do not publish a figure, because a number produced before anyone has seen your goods is a guess. The firm matched to your enquiry gives you a real one once it has surveyed both ends.
DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, company 07425576, ICO ZB022743. Norman House, Saint Saviours Estate, Abbey Street, London, SE1 3DH. Founded November 2010. Working Member of AGM Group since 2010.
International Removals Companies is a free enquiry matching service and does not carry out removals. Each enquiry is connected with one vetted network firm. Certification is FIDI FAIM, audited by Ernst & Young against more than two hundred criteria, alongside BAR Overseas, IAM, EUROMOVERS and FEDEMAC.
Reviewed by Darren Benjamin, Founder, International Removals Companies. Customs and registration rules change. Confirm current requirements with SARS and the Department of Home Affairs before you ship.