The global shipping industry has spent nearly two years rerouting vessels around Africa as attacks in the Red Sea disrupt one of the world’s most important trade corridors. Yet South Africa, the country best positioned to benefit from the shift, is struggling to seize the opportunity.
The World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence have ranked the Port of Cape Town as the world’s worst-performing container port, raising fresh concerns about whether Africa’s most industrialised economy can capitalise on a historic change in global trade routes.
Cape Town placed 400th out of 400 ports assessed in the 2025 Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), a global benchmark that measures how efficiently ports move container vessels through their facilities.
Since late 2023, attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea have forced many shipping companies to avoid the Suez Canal and reroute around the Cape of Good Hope.
The shift has increased the strategic importance of southern Africa, placing South Africa at the centre of one of the world’s busiest alternative trade routes.
