<\/p>\n
The City of Cape Town has called on port manager Transnet to speed up initiatives \u2013 including private sector involvement \u2013 to improve efficiencies at South Africa\u2019s oldest port.<\/p>\n
This comes just days after Cape Town was ranked the world\u2019s worst container port by the Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) 2025, produced annually by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence.<\/p>\n
Two South African ports \u2013 Cape Town and Durban \u2013 appear in the bottom five of the world\u2019s worst ports, though Durban was also credited as being the most improved port in the world in 2025.<\/p>\n
Read\/listen:
Durban and Coega among the world\u2019s most improved ports
Ports remain crucial to lifting SA\u2019s economic tide<\/p>\n
The CPPI reflects the performance of container terminals in various ports around the world, but does not include other terminals such as dry and liquid bulk.<\/p>\n
This repeats a pattern reported in previous years.<\/p>\n
In last year\u2019s report, Durban was ranked dead last with Coega and Cape Town close behind. The 2025 rankings show Durban edging up slightly (398th), while Cape Town dropped to 400th<\/sup> place.<\/p>\n Alderman James Vos of Cape Town\u2019s Mayoral Committee for Economic Growth, says Cape Town should have one of the most efficient ports in the world, as it is strategically located on one of the world\u2019s busiest shipping routes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Cape Town is SA\u2019s oldest port, but Durban is the country\u2019s biggest and busiest container port, handling between 60% to 65% of SA\u2019s container traffic, due in large part to its proximity to the country\u2019s economic hub, Gauteng.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Cape Town is SA\u2019s second busiest container port, although Coega in the Eastern Cape has a higher container handling capacity currently.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Transnet has made investments to improve port operations, we are still not seeing this improvement reflected in the latest global port rankings. This should concern everyone who cares about economic growth, exports, investment and job creation in South Africa,\u201d says Vos.<\/p>\n He adds that \u201cthere are encouraging signs that reforms and partnerships are beginning to yield improvements elsewhere in the country\u2019s port network\u201d.<\/p>\n However, the Port of Cape Town \u201ccontinues to struggle with operational inefficiencies that undermine competitiveness and frustrate exporters who are trying to get their products to international markets.\u201d<\/p>\n Worst performing ports in 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n Source: The Container Port Performance Index 2025 (World Bank)<\/span><\/p>\n Cape of storms<\/strong><\/p>\n The Port of Cape Town\u2019s struggles are not entirely of its own making.<\/p>\n Traffic to the port was repeatedly disrupted by bad weather and swells. This, combined with equipment reliability issues, led to volatility in ship times in port \u2013 despite easing of supply chain stress.<\/p>\n \u201cThis deterioration was accompanied by a decline in berth utilisation, suggesting that vessels increasingly accumulated time outside productive berth operations,\u201d says the CPPI.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n Cape Town has started to tackle these disruptions by introducing a predictive wind model developed with the CSIR to reduce weather-related disruptions, a helicopter piloting service to improve ship access during high swells, and a digital technology platform for cargo planning.<\/p>\n \u201cThe port\u2019s CPPI trajectory underlines how structural exposure to external conditions can dominate performance outcomes, independent of global demand cycles,\u201d adds the CPPI.<\/p>\n Read\/listen: The report measures time spent in port, reflecting queuing, waiting, and idle berth time, as well as the port\u2019s ability to cope with volatile arrival patterns and recover from disruption.<\/p>\n One shipping analyst who asked not to be named told Moneyweb that Cape Town has been shoved to the bottom of the pile when it comes to infrastructure upgrades, despite consistent pressure from the city.<\/p>\n \u201cThe city notes the encouraging steps taken by port authorities to improve efficiencies, including requests for proposals to operate the liquid bulk terminal and a cold storage terminal, as greater private sector involvement at the port cannot come soon enough,\u201d says Vos, adding that the city management will continue to provide its full support to port authorities in reforming port inefficiencies.<\/p>\n Constraint to growth\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n A persistent gripe among business, exporters and investors is poor port performance in the city that stifles economic growth.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it is agricultural producers trying to get fresh produce to overseas markets, manufacturers moving goods through supply chains, or logistics operators attempting to plan with certainty, the message is remarkably consistent: The port remains one of the biggest constraints on economic growth in the Western Cape,\u201d says Vos.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Research commissioned by the Western Cape Government shows a more efficient port could unlock about R6 billion in additional exports, support nearly 20 000 jobs, generate more than R1.6 billion in additional tax revenue and grow the provincial economy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cOur port should be a competitive advantage that strengthens our position as a leading hub for trade and investment. Instead, it too often acts as a bottleneck that constrains growth and limits opportunity,\u201d adds Vos.<\/p>\n Cape Town\u2019s container port handles most of SA\u2019s fresh fruit exports, and has relied on collaboration between Transnet, the provincial government and private sector groups to maintain port capacity during peak export seasons.<\/p>\n The Western Cape has a goal of trebling exports by 2035, which requires much improved port efficiency and reduced logistics costs.<\/p>\n Vos says the city will use every means at its disposal to improve port efficiency. This includes partnerships, advocacy, stakeholder engagement and reform.<\/p>\n \u201cWe support opening the door far wider to private sector participation in port operations. We support reforms that bring investment, expertise and innovation into the system. We support measures that improve efficiency, reduce delays and strengthen South Africa\u2019s competitiveness in global markets.<\/p>\n \u201cMost importantly, we support interventions that help unlock economic growth and create more jobs for the people of Cape Town and South Africa,\u201d says Vos.<\/p>\n Transnet is yet to comment on the latest CPPI report or on the City of Cape Town\u2019s comments on the performance of the Port of Cape Town.<\/p>\n Read:<\/p>\n #Cape #Town #Transnet #action #worlds #worst #container #port #ranking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The City of Cape Town has called on port manager Transnet to speed up initiatives \u2013 including private sector involvement \u2013 to improve efficiencies at South Africa\u2019s oldest port. This… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1121,1696,9939,3875,9151,1697,1505,1041,4115],"class_list":["post-7673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-action","tag-cape","tag-container","tag-port","tag-ranking","tag-town","tag-transnet","tag-worlds","tag-worst"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\n Rank<\/strong><\/td>\n Port<\/strong><\/td>\n Country<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 400<\/td>\n Cape Town<\/td>\n South Africa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 399<\/td>\n Conakry<\/td>\n Guinea<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 398<\/td>\n Durban<\/td>\n South Africa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 397<\/td>\n Rijeka<\/td>\n Croatia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 396<\/td>\n Mombasa<\/td>\n Kenya<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \n
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