Howzit Joburg?

The ‘City of Gold’ is a name of Johannesburg that refers to the founding history of what is now South Africa’s largest city with eight million inhabitants. The first settlers discovered one of the world’s largest gold deposits in the Witwatersrand, west of Johannesburg, in 1886. Today, two of the eight largest gold mines in the world are still located within a 50-kilometre radius of the city.

Some Johannesburg residents say you can ‘walk on gold’ in their city – there is some truth to this: the overburden from the mines was used to build the roads and pavements. This still contained gold particles that were so small that they could not be extracted with the prevailing mining technology in the early 1900s. So parts of Johannesburg’s pavement actually contain the valuable precious metal.

But it is not only the gold that makes Johannesburg a magnet for people. The climate with an average of 265 days of sunshine (3,182 hours) a year creates an attractive environment for all those who enjoy good weather. The favourable climatic conditions are also a reason why visitors are always surprised at how green Johannesburg actually is. With over ten million trees, the city is one of the largest urban man-made forests in the world. A real insider tip here is to visit Northcliff Hill, one of the best viewpoints in Johannesburg – especially worthwhile in October, when the jacaranda trees wrap the city in a beautiful purple cloud.

Johannesburg is the economic capital of Southern Africa and, with the headquarters of Africa's largest stock market, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in Sandton, an important economic centre. Together with the neighbouring metropolitan municipality of Tshwane, which is also home to South Africa's capital, Pretoria, Johannesburg forms one of the 50 largest urban areas in the world.

With OR Tambo International Airport, the metropolis has an important air cargo hub and gateway for sub-Saharan Africa with a capacity of 650,000 cargo tonnes and 28 million passengers per year. Many shipments are transported across borders to southern Africa. Johannesburg thus offers optimal conditions for the settlement of national and international companies, also from the logistics sector.

With over 20 years of experience in the region and 50,000 square metres of warehousing space in all major centres, Rhenus offers a one-stop-shop solution including freight forwarding, express and supply chain management solutions to customers. The headquarters of Rhenus Middle East & Africa are in close proximity to the airport and recently opened a high-value airside facility that allows the team to draw cargo directly from the carrier at OR Tambo International.