An assessment of the capacity and the performance of marine services in South Africa’s ports

Abstract

Background: With about 80% of world trade being seaborne, seaports’ capacity, efficiency and associated services are vital to ensure seamless, sustainable global supply chains. A lack of investment in marine services capacity and performance in South African ports remains a concern for port users and supply chain practitioners.

Objectives: This study examines the capacity and performance of marine services in South Africa’s ports. The primary example examines marine services performance data for the Port of Durban.

Method: This study uses Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) data and descriptive statistics to analyse marine fleet performance, bollard pulls and human capacity in South Africa’s ports to identify causes of shipping delays in the Port of Durban from 2014 to 2021.

Results: The 8 years analysis show five most prominent sources of shipping delays in Ports as; tugboats occupied, shift changes, shipping movements, tugs out of commission and adverse weather conditions. Other factors identified were pilot-boat availability, overbooking slots, port meetings, etc. The performance of marine services are impacted by outdated wet infrastructure and a shortage of marine crafts and critical skills.

Conclusion: There is a clear and justified need to increase physical and human capital investment in the provision of marine services and improve maintenance spending on critical infrastructure to reduce shipping delays and costs of conducting trade in South African (SA) ports.

Contribution: The study compiles, analyses and provides a contextual understanding of the number of marine crafts, average bollard pulls, human resources capacity and causes of shipping delays in Republic of South Africa (RSA) ports.