Following a tender process, Magnetic Storm has been appointed to bring the People’s Port Festival to life for Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA).
Free to attend, on March 25th and 26th, the Port Elizabeth Port will be abuzz as it opens its doors and showcases some of the incredible technology, ocean experiences to be had, as well as offering tours to areas, usually closed to the public.
Managing the event from conceptualisation through to clean-up, Magnetic Storm is running the logistics of the event in partnership with TNPA and its stakeholders.
“We’re charged with bringing everything together and making a beautiful, blank, but a little rough-around-the-edges venue, something to inspire the community,” remarks Magnetic Storm CEO Glenn van Eck. “Our port is a hub of activity, pulling together a multitude of careers, people and backgrounds, but so few people have experienced its magic. With TNPA we will bring the city to the port for them to discover what happens behind the rows of railway tracks and security gates seen from the highway.”
The vision for the event is so have a substantial social, economic and tourism benefit to the city. And present its vision of a ‘smart people’s port’ and the proposed Port Elizabeth Waterfront project.
Using a diverse programme of activities, demonstrations and entertainment, visitors to the festival will be able to experience the inner-workings of a busy port, the magic of the ocean, watersports and the lifestyle the port offers.
The initial programme of events include:
- Getting up close to the tech and machinery used within the port
- Automotive exporters exhibition
- Port careers exhibition
- Discover ocean-based research in the Bay
- Bayworld experiences
- Virtual diving
- Watersports
- Family entertainment
- Popular live artists and DJs including Mafikizolo and Mobi Dixon
- Tours on boats including SA Aghullus
- Evening yacht procession
- Tug boat ballet
- Firework display
- Inter-quay ferry trips
- Fish and farmers’ markets
- Food trucks
- Bocadillos pop-up restaurant
- Lifestyle market
“The port is a hub of activity, business and leisure and this is a chance to open it up to the city and for the community to experience, for free, what happens down at the waterfront,” explains Jane Stevenson who is leading the project for Magnetic Storm. “TNPA is investing a lot in technology to create a ‘smart port’, and to create a port which can be experienced by those living and visiting the city, and get value and enjoyment from.”
More information can be found at its Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/peoplesportfestival/
Author: Kimberley Clare Ogden
Website: PE Waterfront
Port Elizabethan
Latest posts by Port Elizabethan (see all)
- Why Fewer People Are Being Convicted for Commercial Crimes - 15 May 2026
- Urgent Call for South Africa to Support and Join Global Efforts to Phase Out Fossil Fuels - 15 April 2026
- Unfenced 6 SAI Army Base Outside Makhanda Claims Another Life - 20 November 2025
- Death Toll Rises From Makhado Bus Crash - 21 October 2025
- Law Clinics Flooded as Home Affairs Blocks Asylum Seekers From the System - 15 October 2025
