A lack of competition is identified as the main reason for the poor performance of South Africa’s ports, according to the National Development Plan released by Trevor Manuel’s National Planning Commission. It says “as indicated by the port regulator, South African ports perform poorly, operating at levels below comparative operations, with costs that are significantly higher than the global average. “These gateways for international trade are hindering the nation’s development objectives.” The report also criticises Transnet for using surpluses generated by port operations to “fund investments elsewhere. “The trade-offs obscured within the Transnet Group must be addressed if port prices are to be competitive,” say the authors of the plan.
