Cape Town's container terminal performance improves with sub-one-day vessel wait times, but intermodal capacity challenges persist across key ports.
Higher throughput and sub-one-day vessel waiting times signal a notable waterside improvement, while intermodal capacity constraints remain a challenge across Cape Town, Coega, and Port Elizabeth.
Container terminal performance in Cape Town and the Eastern Cape improved significantly in the week ending 1 November. These gains helped lift container throughput across South Africa's ports by 20% week on week.
Cape Town Container Terminal reached 126% of its weekly target, which is roughly 15,000 TEU. Port Elizabeth recorded the group's sharpest percentage rise, while Ngqura delivered a steadier gain on an already high base.
Together, the three terminals handled 43,160 TEU during the week. This combined volume reinforces the role of the Western and Eastern Cape gateways as key outlets for cargo moving through South Africa.
Vessel conditions in Cape Town have improved alongside throughput. Container vessels currently face no significant waiting time to berth, and the average waiting time over the last seven days remains below one day.
The published weekly operational data also showed an average anchorage time of just one hour at Cape Town Container Terminal. Shorter waits at anchorage give shipping lines, forwarders, and cargo owners greater confidence in vessel schedules and cut-off planning at the port.
However, the waterside improvement has not yet carried through to landside operations. Intermodal capacity remains constrained from Coega and Port Elizabeth.
According to the local Kuehne+Nagel office, the influx of cargo being steered towards Coega, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town continues to put pressure on available inland transport capacity. This constraint shifts the risk point away from the berth and onto moving containers to and from the terminals.
For forwarders, this places greater weight on early inland transport bookings, close coordination with road and rail providers, and clear communication with clients on landside timelines. Cargo owners and importers that rely on predictable delivery windows and inventory flow may still see inland delays, even as vessel turnaround improves.
Meanwhile, Durban continues to face a substantial vessel backlog despite improving throughput. The average vessel waiting time has declined from 7.54 days in week 44 to around six days over the last seven days. Currently, six vessels are waiting at anchorage.
The gap between Durban and the Cape terminals helps explain why cargo continues to be directed towards Coega, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town, and why inland capacity at those gateways remains under strain.
