It’s bad, yes, but the World Bank focuses only on vessel turnaround times, say industry analysts and associations.
Not surprisingly, the World Bank has drawn fire for its latest World Bank Container Port Index for 2024, which ranks Durban dead last out of 403 ports evaluated worldwide.
Coega, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth are not far behind, meaning four of SA’s main ports are ranked in the bottom 10 by the World Bank. The situation is more or less unchanged from 2023.
What’s not reflected in the latest World Bank report however, are the operational and equipment improvements made in the last 18 months, say industry analysts and associations. These will no doubt result in much improved rankings in the coming years.
The rankings are based on the Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), which measures time spent in container ports, without reference to the underlying factors or root causes of extended port times.
ALSO READ: Durban comes dead last in 2024 World Bank port rankings
Context missing
“It is essential to put the CPPI in context to understand what it measures – and what it does not – and it is of crucial importance to recognise what the industry must do next,” says Jaco van Rensburg, head of research and development at the Southern African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF).
“The CPPI is an indicative, time-based index of container port performance that measures vessel time in port (arrival/waiting plus berth hours), normalised for ship and call size, using AIS (automatic identification system) port-call data and a combined administrative/statistical method.”
The CPPI index does not capture landside logistics performance, such as hinterland connectivity, customs, or trucking and rail transport. Nor is there any weight given to costs, service quality, pricing, sustainability, or terminal-level variation, adds Van Rensburg.
SAAFF says it will continue to work with Transnet, the World Bank and others to provide context to these scores, with evidence on terminal handling performance, dwell times, gate and rail performance, service reliability, and terminal-level differences – so decisions “reflect the whole port system, not only waterside metrics.”
Transnet has yet to issue a response to the World Bank’s findings.
Jan Havenga, professor of logistics at Stellenbosch University, likewise argues that the CPPI index offers a limited view of port performance.
“Three statements must be seen together. First, South Africa’s ports are not the best.
“Second, the new management of Transnet under CEO Michelle Phillips and her team has been in charge for 18 months and have addressed this issue aggressively. Equipment bought is arriving, retraining is taking place, and middle leadership is improving. This is confirmed by many domestic institutions such as SAAFF that the ports are improving.
“Third, the World Bank index has many problems and requires improvement.
“In summary, I would say our ports are not good, but they are improving, and I believe the CPPI index also needs improving,” said Havenga.
ALSO READ: Cape Town port ranked the worst in the world
Signs of progress and renewal
Responding to the World Bank report, CEO of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Palesa Phili, says ports across the world are unique, with distinct geographical locations, sizes, cargo types, and trade dynamics.
“While the Port of Durban has experienced setbacks, it has also made significant progress in key areas under its new leadership. As organised business, we are working closely with Transnet to ensure the needs and expectations of business are addressed,” says Phili.
“We are deeply concerned about the reputational damage the CPPI has caused, especially as Transnet is working on implementing key reforms. We hope that the CPPI will be interpreted with fairness, considering the reforms Transnet is implementing. The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry NPC remain committed to working with Transnet to ensure the Durban Port functions optimally.”
Writing in Africa Ports & Ships, editor Terry Hutson notes that Durban’s low ranking is attributed primarily to extended vessel waiting times at anchor, rather than inefficiencies at berth.
“Cape Town also features near the bottom, with similar challenges. The report notes that time at berth has remained relatively stable, suggesting that the bottlenecks lie in pre-berthing delays – often caused by congestion, equipment shortages, and scheduling inefficiencies.
“However, recent months have seen a marked improvement in South African port operations. The arrival of new equipment, including ship-to-shore cranes and straddle carriers, has begun to ease congestion.”
What’s needed, adds Hutson, is a more nuanced benchmark that incorporates factors such as hinterland connectivity, cargo mix, and resilience to disruption.
“In the meantime, South African ports are showing signs of renewal. With new equipment on the ground, morale on the rise, and operational reforms underway, the next edition of the CPPI may tell a different story. Until then, the current rankings serve as a wake-up call – and a reminder that performance is not just about numbers, but about context, capacity, and commitment to change,” adds Hutson.
ALSO READ: Transnet calls World Bank out on Cape Town being ‘worst port in the world’
Questions and criticism
In an academic study published earlier this year, Dr Ryan Hawthorne of Acacia Economics highlights Transnet’s faltering attempts at reform, with three 25-year leases involving Transnet and private bidders being contested in the courts.
“In circumstances where international experience shows that ports at the scale of South Africa’s can host a number of terminal operators, the National Ports Authority (NPA) runs the risk of harming the interests of consumers. This is because monopolies typically charge higher prices, provide lower quality services, and innovate less.”
Hawthorne questions whether the reforms being carried out, with the NPA soon to be separated from Transnet and long-term concessions being handed out to single operators, might not result in public monopolies being replaced by private ones.
The question remains whether the NPA is currently sufficiently independent from Transnet, and whether this will allow for inter-port rivalry that worked well for SA more than 100 years ago.
Glen Robbins, research associate at Policy Research in International Services and Manufacturing at the University of Cape Town, says the World Bank’s ranking of South Africa at the bottom of the world’s ports is not entirely unexpected.
ALSO READ: South Africa’s ports crisis needs more attention
“Most of the modest improvements by Transnet at ports have been in 2025. The report covers 2024, when backlogs at Durban Container Port 2 were still severe, and are now apparently mostly cleared in 2025. 2023 and 2024 were messy years for SA ports.”
While there’s been much talk of port turnarounds, progress has been slow and off a low base.
“It’s good that things are improving across most ports in 2025, thanks to new equipment and better performance scrutiny, but SA ports and terminals are mostly some considerable distance from the global frontier of performance, so there is much work to be done,” adds Robbins.
Despite the criticisms, the CPPI index developers have responded to some concerns by making more statistical adjustments for port context features.
Says Robbins: “Considering how far we are from major markets and suppliers, SA desperately needs the best ports we can get at competitive cargo prices. That also means serious attention to supply chain integration, not just ports. Our land leg is expensive and often slow. Furthermore, we need to see ports better serve a diversity of stakeholder needs – from shipping lines to cargo owners to local service business, to local residents, and tourists.
“Globally leading ports have become sophisticated, multi-actor governed systems to enable better decisions, lower risks, and more sustainable outcomes. This is a world away from most of our ports,” says Robbins.
The number of days ships spent at Durban port awaiting discharge and delivery was reduced by two days in the first quarter of 2025, from 21 days in mid-2023, said Andrew Kirby, head of the B4SA Business Government Partnership, speaking at a press briefing on Thursday.
This is in line with turnaround times at other large container ports around the world, but will not have been reflected in the latest World Bank report.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
