South Africa’s ports have been singled out as some of the weakest links in global trade, with Durban and Cape Town ranked among the worst-performing container terminals in the world.

The World Bank’s latest Container Port Performance Index, produced with S&P Global, placed Durban dead last at 403rd out of 403 ports surveyed in 2024, while Cape Town ranked 400th. Coega and Port Elizabeth also featured in the bottom ten, underlining the scale of inefficiency gripping the country’s maritime gateways.

The report shows that global port performance has slipped since 2020 under the weight of Red Sea disruptions, Panama Canal drought restrictions, and the lingering effects of the Covid pandemic. While ports in East and South Asia have surged ahead, and African peers such as Dakar in Senegal improved through targeted investment and reforms, South Africa’s major hubs fell further behind.

Measured on total vessel time spent in port, the index highlights severe South African congestion and equipment shortages that continue to delay cargo. By contrast, leading global ports have adopted crane operations, digital platforms, and global operator partnerships far in advance of what has occurred in South Africa.

The World Bank notes how South Africa’s peer ports at Dakar in Senegal, Jawaharlal Nehru near Mumbai in India, Mersin in southern Turkey, Port Said at the Suez Canal in Egypt, and Posorja near Guayaquil in Ecuador all improved their rankings since 2020, showing how political commitment to operational reforms can lift competitiveness.

For South Africa, the findings provide a stark reminder that without urgent modernisation, its ports risk remaining a structural drag on trade and growth.