By: The herald online

Not surprisingly, the World Bank has drawn fire for its latest World Bank Container Port Index for 2024, which ranks Durban dead last out of 403 ports evaluated worldwide.

Coega, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth are not far behind, meaning four of SA’s main ports are ranked in the bottom 10 by the World Bank. The situation is more or less unchanged from 2023.

What’s not reflected in the latest World Bank report, however, are the operational and equipment improvements made in the last 18 months, say industry analysts and associations.

These will no doubt result in much improved rankings in the coming years.

The rankings are based on the Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), which measures time spent in container ports, without reference to the underlying factors or root causes of extended port times.

“It is essential to put the CPPI in context to understand what it measures – and what it does not – and it is of crucial importance to recognise what the industry must do next,” says Jaco van Rensburg, head of research and development at the Southern African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF).

“The CPPI is an indicative, time-based index of container port performance that measures vessel time in port (arrival/waiting plus berth hours), normalised for ship and call size, using AIS (automatic identification system) port-call data and a combined administrative/statistical method.”

The CPPI index does not capture landside logistics performance, such as hinterland connectivity, customs, or trucking and rail transport.

Nor is there any weight given to costs, service quality, pricing, sustainability, or terminal-level variation, adds Van Rensburg. — Moneyweb