Vessel turnaround times at the Port of Cape Town have improved significantly, with industry stakeholders confirming that fewer ships are waiting at anchorage and vessels are increasingly able to berth on arrival.
Container terminal ship turnaround time fell from an average of 103 hours in the 2023/24 financial year to 74 hours in 2025/26, according to the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA).
Performance has improved further in the current financial year, with year-to-date turnaround times averaging 58 hours.
Average vessel waiting times at anchorage have also declined from 127 hours in 2023/24 to 79 hours in 2025/26.
TNPA attributed the improvement to better terminal handling rates and fewer marine-related delays.
The permanent deployment of ten shore tension units has reduced downtime caused by long-wave conditions by 92% since 2023/24.
Container volumes increased by 6.5% year on year during 2025/26, supported by record deep-sea import and export volumes.
Improvement visible on the ground
The operational gains reported by TNPA are increasingly evident to port users.
“Performance has certainly picked up, and vessels are now almost at the point where they are berthing on arrival,” Exporters Western Cape chairman Terry Gale told Freight News.
Gale said favourable weather had contributed to the improvement, while investment in new equipment had strengthened the port’s ability to operate during periods of higher winds.
A Western Cape government source told Freight News that the province’s digital logistics planning platform had also shown a significant improvement in vessel turnaround times following the introduction of new equipment towards the end of last year.
However, the source cautioned that sustaining the improvement would require more than equipment investment, highlighting the importance of skilled operators, effective responses to weather disruptions and better coordination across the logistics chain.
The improvements follow Cape Town’s poor performance in the World Bank’s latest Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), which highlighted the impact of weather-related disruptions and operational bottlenecks on vessel turnaround times.
Gale said the upcoming fruit export season would provide an important test of whether the gains could be sustained. “We realise what we can achieve, and hopefully that is sustainable.”
