Durban best performing port by far

THE DURBAN port is by far the best performing in subSaharan Africa, according to a PwC survey. It scored 94 points in the hub attractiveness index, followed by Cape Town and the Port of Ngqura in Port Elizabeth as joint second on 50. The Port of Abidjan in Ivory Coast and Mombasa in Kenya came in at a joint third on 46 points. PwC Africa transport and logistics leader Andrew Shaw said almost half of all containers at southern African ports moved through the port of Durban. “The Port of Ngqura near Port Elizabeth was built as an alternative to Durban, but despite significant capacity constraints at Durban, has not attracted any meaningful volumes due to less than favourable inland connections and a lack of critical mass,” Shaw said. “This should serve as a reminder to governments that spending on existing facilities may yield far better results than trying to create alternatives to established nodes in a network.” PwC said based on the degree of port centrality and the amount of trade passing through a port, Durban, Abidjan and Mombasa were most likely to ultimately emerge as the major hubs in southern Africa, West Africa and East Africa, respectively. CSIR senior researcher for transport freight logistics Simone Smith said Durban faced increasing competition. “I cannot foresee that Durban will remain a major hub in Africa as it faces competition with Lagos in terms of numbers, and from Walvis Bay and Maputo in terms of calling on southern Africa,” she said. – Kabelo Khumalo