A ship-to-shore crane at the Port of Cape Town, in South Africa. Photographer: Dwayne senior/Bloomberg 
“The inefficiencies at our port not only impede the flow of goods but also significantly hamper our economic growth,” the City of Cape Town said in a statement on Friday. It called for more integration of the private sector to boost performance.
The World Bank added 57 new ports to the index this year and South African harbors took up the last two spots with the Port of Ngqura coming in at 404th. Durban, the nation’s biggest terminal, was the eighth worst.
| South African Port | CPPI Ranking |
|---|---|
| Port Elizabeth | 391 |
| Durban | 398 |
| Ngqura | 404 |
| Cape Town | 405 |
At a visit to Cape Town operations last month, Oscar Borchards, Transnet’s acting managing executive for terminals in the Western Cape province, described a plan to increase capacity. New equipment to load and unload ships will be able to operate in higher wind speeds, avoiding the problem of worsening weather when gusts force the port to shut.
A recent fruit export season was a challenging period when the need for upgrades “really hit us,” according to Borchards. “We are seeing changes already in terms of improvement, in terms of productivity,” he said. “As the equipment comes up and, and the technology comes into play step by step, it’ll improve.”