PROPOSED UPGRADE AND EXPANSION OF SOUTH AFRICA’S PORT OF CAPE TOWN IS EXCELLENT NEWS FOR THE AGRICULTURAL EXPORT SECTOR

The announcement earlier this month by South African government’s Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) that the authority plans to invest R16.1 billion in infrastructure development at the ports of Cape Town, Saldanha Bay and Mossel Bay is extremely good news for the fresh produce and broader agricultural export sector of South Africa’s Western Cape Province. The logistics utility announced that the Western Region’s capital investment programme had an allocation of R5.5bn in Cape Town over a seven-year period. In the current financial year 2022/23 the Port of Cape Town will see the delivery of a robust R260m capital programme.

Current Port of Cape Town logistical challenges

The strategic global position that the Port of Cape Town enjoys means that the port is well situated to service markets in the eastern and western hemispheres, and this has traditionally served the port very well. Well. However, a significant challenge to agricultural exports from this region is the logistical and infrastructural challenge associated with Cape Town’s port. These are significant problems as the World Bank's 2021 Container Port Performance Index report ranked the Port of Cape Town at 365th out 370 ports. For many years there has been insufficient investment in infrastructure by national government at the Port and during 2021 the port experienced a particularly difficult year due to the impact of the Covid-19 global pandemic.

These plans will make it possible to continue the improvements in the general operations and performance of the port that have already been initiated during the past few months. Additional crane and other infrastructural capacity, as well as the activation of additional berthing space and operational incentives have already brought improved performance in the port.?Increased co-operation and collaboration between various government and private sector stakeholders within the port environment have also brought positive results.?