The popular Goods Shed Indoor Flea Market boasts a coffee shop and restaurant as well as a variety of stalls selling arts, crafts, souvenirs, décor, furniture and lifestyle items. The Goods Shed now also houses well known artist by name of Rut Art.
The Goods Shed is situated in Bland Street (near the entrance to Mossel Bay Harbour).
Business Hours:
Peak periods (summer holidays and Easter) – from 09:00 to 18:00, seven days a week
Other periods – from 09:00 to 17:00 Tuesdays to Sundays (closed on on Mondays).
The Goods Shed is managed as a small business and local economic development project by the Mossel Bay Municipality. People who are interested in renting space can contact Mr. Joubert Coetzee on 044 606 5100.
Historic Background
When it was built in 1900, the Goods Shed was used as a cargo store, and it was the largest clear-span structure in the region: its interior measures 15 x 90 metres. It is now occupied by an indoor flea market.
The adjoining building with its instantly recognisable clock tower was erected in 1901 for the Mossel Bay Boating Co., which managed the harbour. The clock is said to have been used to time the speed with which ships were loaded and unloaded.
The harbour relied on the local farming and fishing industries until the discovery of the areas offshore gas fields in 1969. This lead to the development of the PetroSA gas-to-liquids refinery (which lies inland and about 14 km to the west), and changed the nature of commerce in the harbour, which focusses largely on the petrochemicals industry.
The harbour is now managed by the Transnet Port Authority (a parastatal company). Its entrance channel is 8 metres deep, and is accessible to vessels of a draught of up to 6.5 metres. The largest quay in the facility – Quay 4 – accommodates vessels of up to 130m, while vessels of up to 200 tonnes can access the ship repair slipway.
The port authority controls two mooring buoys which are situated offshore in the Bay: a catenary buoy mooring that caters for ships of up to 32,000DWT (maximum length 204m, draught 12m); and a single point mooring which allows marine tankers to take products on board via three hoses which are connected to PetroSA.
The harbour is not open to the public.