Great news for Durban Port
· The South African
After years of criticism over delays, congestion and operational problems, there are signs that Durban Port may finally be turning a corner.
The latest Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), published by the World Bank, has identified Durban as the most improved port in the world during 2025, marking a significant turnaround for South Africa’s busiest trade gateway.
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The recognition comes just a year after Durban, along with Cape Town, Coega and Port Elizabeth, was ranked among the world’s poorest-performing ports in the previous report.
While South Africa’s ports still face major challenges, the latest findings suggest that Durban’s performance is beginning to improve.
Fewer ships waiting outside Durban Port
One of the most notable improvements highlighted in the report was a sharp reduction in vessel waiting times.
According to the CPPI, the number of ships waiting outside Durban Harbour fell from around 20 vessels previously to zero in 2025.
The World Bank attributed this improvement to gradual operational stabilisation, management reforms and the early impact of equipment recovery initiatives.
For shipping companies, fewer delays mean faster turnaround times and lower costs, while importers and exporters benefit from more reliable movement of goods through the country’s most important container port.
Top 10 most improved ports 2024-2025 according to the report:
Port Territory 2024 2025 Year-on-year improvement Durban South Africa -721 -242 479 Freeport Bahamas-234 -13 221 Coega (Ngqura) Port South Africa -284 -119 165 Cristobal Panama -202 -48 154 Manzanillo Mexico-161 -9 152 Port Elizabeth South Africa -169 -23 146 Sepetiba Brazil -173 -54 119 Djibouti Djibouti -56 63 119 Itajai Brazil -111 7 118 Santos Brazil -166 -64 102More time loading, less time waiting
The report also found that Durban made significant gains in berth utilisation.
In practical terms, this means ships spent more time actively loading and unloading cargo and less time sitting idle waiting for operations to begin.
The proportion of time vessels spent at berth increased from roughly 52% in 2024 to about 76% in 2025.
According to the CPPI, this reflects a shift away from anchorage delays and pre-berth waiting times towards more productive port operations.
Although Durban still lags many of the world’s leading ports, these improvements suggest efficiency is moving in the right direction.
The World Bank cautioned that Durban’s improvement should not be mistaken for a complete turnaround.
While the port’s performance has improved considerably, overall ship times remain relatively long compared with leading international ports.
“While absolute ship time in port remains long, the CPPI improvement signals recovery momentum,” the report stated.
Cape Town moves in the opposite directionWhile Durban’s performance improved, the picture was less encouraging at Cape Town Port.
The CPPI found that persistent bad weather continued to disrupt operations, contributing to delays and inconsistent performance throughout 2025.
The report said weather-related interruptions, combined with equipment reliability problems, resulted in vessels spending highly variable amounts of time in port.
“This deterioration was accompanied by a decline in berth utilisation, suggesting that vessels increasingly accumulated time outside productive berth operations,” the report noted.
In other words, ships spent more time waiting and less time actively handling cargo, the opposite of the trend recorded in Durban.
Coega was also identified as one of the world’s most improved ports over the past year, while Port Elizabeth was listed among the five most improved ports globally over the past five years.