The Port of Cape Town may have trumped its South African counterparts in the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index for 2020, but the port’s overall position – 347 out of 351 – is still a dreadfully poor performance, says the DA’s David Maynier.
Reacting to the Index, the minister for finance and economic opportunities in the Western Cape expressed his dismay that the port had sunk to the bottom of a list where its efficiency shortfalls were ranked lower than other African ports such as Djibouti, Abidjan, Beira, Maputo, Walvis Bay, Dar es Salaam, and Mombasa.
“While Cape Town is listed as the top performing port in South Africa, this is no indication of success as all South Africa’s container ports, including Durban, Gqeberha and Ngqura, dominate the lower end of the Index – a sad reflection of competitiveness of ports in South Africa.
“The Port of Cape Town is an important channel for exports and imports, and a major economic gateway for Cape Town, the Western Cape and South Africa.
“However, it continues to face severe congestion issues as a result of ageing infrastructure and equipment, staffing shortages and weather disruptions.”
Coming ahead of a seminar this morning where Belgium and South Africa will be looking at maximising the Port of Antwerp’s potential as a springboard for local exports into the European Union, especially through the Port of Cape Town, Maynier’s response to the Index has struck a hard chord.
He emphasised that recurring delays at the port were the reason why a Port Task Team between public and private stakeholders had been formed last year to thrash out problems.
He added that although the formation of the task team had resulted in a series of successes, national intervention was still a prerequisite for port optimisation, hence the invitation to President Cyril Ramaphosa to urgently visit the port.
“Growing exports, primarily through trade promotion and the removal of obstacles to exports, is a critical lever in our strategy to grow the economy and create jobs in the Western Cape.
“As the 5th largest African exporter of agricultural goods, and the exporter of 40% of South Africa’s agriculture and agri-processing products we are starting from a strong position.
“Even during a challenging 2020, agricultural exports saw significant growth, increasing by 23.8% to a value of R77.14 billion.
“However, to become the most competitive region in Africa, we need the most competitive port.”
