Although Namibia could celebrate its independence 14 years ago on 21 March 1990, the port of Walvis Bay, the surrounding area and the country’s islands only became an integral part of the new sovereign state on 28 February 1994, which is exactly 10 years ago. Long and tough negotiations between the new Namibian government and the ailing apartheid regime in Pretoria finally bore fruit to return the harbour to its rightful owners. In the past decade the Namibian government via the parastatal Namibia Ports Authority, invested hundreds of millions of Namibia dollars to upgrade and modernise the town’s port facilities. Today the Walvis Bay harbour is one of the most modern and efficient ports in Africa and the ideal entry port on the west African coast to the SADC region and to Namibia’s landlocked neighbours.

As far back as 1844 the first settlers of European origin, Sidney Dixon and James Morris start to live at Walvis Bay. Whale catching vessels of British and Dutch origin already used the natural harbour, which was shaped by the Kuiseb River delta, by 1730. Rhenish missionary Heinrich Schepp-mann established a mission station at nearby Rooibank in 1845. On 12 March 1878, the British annexed Walvis Bay and the surrounding area. After the First World War, the harbour is administered from South Africa for the United Kingdom. After South Africa declared itself a Republic in 1961, it still administered the territory and the harbour, and this remained until 1994, despite independence for the remained of the country four years earlier.

President Sam Nujoma called the reintegration of the town during the official ceremony at midnight on 28 February 1994 the end of the country’s colonisation process. A negative incident was the complete destruction of the Rooikop military air base, which "unknown assailants" had left as a cynical goodbye for the Namibia Defence Force.

With a population of approximately 46 000 people, Walvis Bay is the second largest town in Namibia after Windhoek and it has the lowest unemployment rate – a mere 16 percent. The harbour and the ship repair facilities, the Export Processing Zone are all proof of large investments mainly since 1994. The fishing industry has played a major role for many decades and has expanded.