The African continent boasts a 26,000-kilometre-long coastline dotted with over 100 ports and harbours. However, only a few can handle significant cargo and container traffic volumes. A steadily growing services and commercial sector propels the continent forward, which stands at the crossroads of agricultural reform and industrial growth.
African shipping has also improved with increased foreign investments and port management partnerships. China has been a prominent investor and trade partner since 2009, followed by the United States and India. According to economic scientists, some African countries could achieve Middle-income status by 2025.
The introduction of containerization in the mid-20th Century revolutionized global trade, making logistics more efficient and significantly reducing costs through the establishment of a standardized unit known as the TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit). This growth in container traffic has varied significantly across geographies. As indicated by the data, Asia lead container traffic growth at 64%, closely followed by Africa, which experienced an increase of 57%. Africa's strategic geographic location plays a crucial role in its potential for growth. The continent lies at the crossroads of major global shipping routes, including the Asia-Europe corridor that passes through the Suez Canal and the Cape of Good Hope. However, despite its privileged position, many African port infrastructures require significant improvements to meet the challenges of a growing demand and international disruptions.
One of the major challenges ALG has encountered while conducting this analysis is the lack of consistent and reliable data on ports TEU throughput across the African continent. In many regions, data collection is fragmented, with information sourced from multiple channels which, in many cases, is incomplete, inconsistent, or difficult to interpret.
Leveraging years of experience in infrastructure projects across Africa and globally, ALG has developed a comprehensive, standardized TEU throughput database. With our tool, ALG can provide ad-hoc solutions quickly and efficiently, helping our clients optimize their logistics operations, make decisions based on solid data, and capitalize on opportunities in a growing market like Africa.
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This article lists the world's busiest container ports (ports with container terminals that specialize in handling goods transported in intermodal shipping containers), by total number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) transported through the port. The table lists volume in thousands of TEU per year.
Key African Ports
Here's an overview of some of the largest and most important ports in Africa:
1. Port of Durban, South Africa
The Durban port is the biggest and busiest commercial facility lying on the eastern coastline of South Africa. It comprises 58 berths managed by over 22 port operators and has the 4th largest container facility in the Southern Hemisphere. It generates around 60% of trade revenue for South Africa and is visited by more than 5000 ships every year. The Container terminal covers 102 hectares and has shipping links to the Far East, Middle East, South and North America, Europe and Australia. It is a crucial transhipment hub serving the eastern African region and the Indian Ocean Islands.
The port of Durban is located on the east part of South Africa. The port of Durban has the following port units: Transnet Port Terminals - Durban Container Terminal, Pier 1 Container Terminal, Multi-Purpose Terminal, Durban Car Terminal and Maydon Wharf Terminal.
Durban Container Terminal the largest container terminal in the southern hemisphere. 60% of the total number of containers handled at all South African ports is passing through Durban Port.
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Port of Durban is an important hub for the entire Southern African region, connecting it to the Far East, Middle East, Australasia, South America, North America and Europe. The Port of Durban is the biggest container port in Africa in terms of capacity. It is South Africa’s main port for containers. The average number of containers using this port is 84 each month. It handles about 1.55 million containers every year. The type of containers it serves is general-purpose containers, reefers, abnormal containers and tanktainers.
The port of Durban is the busiest port in Africa. In 2019, the port of Durban handled 3253 ships with a gross tonnage of 122 million gross tons. The port handled 81 million tons of cargo.
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2. Port of Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town is the second busiest port in South Africa, after Durban. It handles the largest amount of fresh fruit and vegetables. The Port of Cape Town is located a globally busy trade route, the Port of Cape Town holds a position of strategic and economic importance for South Africa. The port serves as a transshipment destination as well. The Port of Cape Town has maintenance and repair facilities.
In 2009, the Port of Cape Town served to more than 3000 ships carrying a total of 13 million tons of cargo. The container traffic was about 10 million tons in 774 thousand TEUs.
The Port of Cape Town’s Container Terminal consists of water berths. Cape Town’s Container Terminal handled 926 thousand TEUs in 2016.
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3. Port of Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Abidjan is the critical seaport of Cote d’Ivoire and one of the most prominent African ports, also serving as a transhipment hub for Mali and Burkina Faso. It ships agricultural produce, including cocoa, cotton, coffee, groundnuts, rubber, fruits, timber, fish and canned vegetables. Main imports comprise edible oil, machinery, foodstuff, building materials, steel, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
It is divided into two port areas; the Banco bay, facilities along Canal de Vridi and the Bouet Tanker Terminal. The Port’s container terminal spans 34 hectares and contains five berthing facilities with a draft of 11.5 m. A second modern terminal is being constructed at the port by reclaiming 45 hectares of land. This facility will raise the port’s container handling capacity by 2 million TEU and create more than 900 jobs.
Abidjan fishing terminal has two piers and records an annual production of more than 600,000 tonnes of seafood. It is divided into an industrial fishing area and a new fishing region. The port’s grain terminal covers 8 hectares and handles around 30,000 tonnes of wheat annually. This terminal has bagging machines for flour and rice with a processing speed of 5000 tonnes daily. About 250,000 tonnes of fresh fruits are handled annually at the two stations of the fruit terminal.
The Port of Abidjan is located in Ivory Coast and it is West Africa’s biggest port. The port is used as a point for transshipments to West and Central Africa with the railroad system in Cote d’Ivoire. After the operations of Vridi Canal, the Port of Abidjan has handled most of the commercial trade for the Cote d’Ivoire.
The Port of Abidjan has facilities of warehouses for different types of commodities. The port handles the cocoa trade as Cote d’Ivoire is the third largest cocoa bean exporter globally. Imported goods in the port include foodstuffs, machinery, equipment, pharmaceuticals, and manufactured goods. Exports are rubber, cotton, timber, fruit, fish, vegetables and cocoa.
4. Port of Apapa, Nigeria
The Lagos Port is the most prominent Nigerian facility. It is the earliest port settlement of the country, lying in Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial and trade hub. Situated in the Bight of Benin, it includes the ports of Apapa and Tin Can Island. More than 40 per cent of Nigeria’s seaborne trade passes through this port, while it also serves the inland nations of Chad and Niger.
In 1921, four deepwater berths were constructed, laying the foundation of Lagos port. Today, it is equipped with the latest equipment and semi-mechanised terminals, providing cost-effective services. and Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics. One of the largest container terminals in West Africa, the Apapa container terminal operated by the AP Moller-Maersk Group is the principal outlet for the nation’s exports. It has an annual container capacity of over 1,000,000 TEUs and is equipped with 13 mobile harbour cranes. Storage facilities include a 6000 sq m of covered warehouse space and a container yard that stores 20,000 TEUs.
The Port of Apapa is the port for the City of Lagos in Nigeria. Lagos Port has three major areas, Lagos, Apapa and Tin Can Island. The Port of Apapa is regulated by The Nigerian Ports Authority.
The Port of Apapa Container Terminal is built on 44 hectares and the port can handle up to 22 thousand TEUs of containerized cargo. Port of Apapa Container Terminal has six berths and also contains 6.5 thousand sqm covered storage. The container yard can handle 19.5 thousand TEUs, and it contains 298 reefer plugs.
5. Port of Djibouti, Republic of Djibouti
Djibouti port is situated on the southern coastline of the Gulf of Tadjoura, facing the Red Sea. It is the main port of the country and a central regional transhipment hub, serving Ethiopia since 1998.
The port is divided into three subsidiary facilities. The Doraleh multipurpose port covers 690 hectares of land area and has a 1200 m total berthing line. It has specialised facilities for general cargo, containers, bulk fertilisers, grains etc. and can handle 8.2 million tonnes of cargo annually. The Port of Tadjourah was opened in 2017 and is dedicated to potash exports. The 40-hectare port comprises two wharves measuring 455 m for accommodating 65,000 DWT ships. It also has a RORO terminal covering 200 m with a draft of 12 m. Lastly, the Damerjog Livestock port spans 50 hectares and receives five livestock carriers on its 700 m long quay. It consists of a barn, animal treatment, inspection shed, and storage areas.
The Port of Djibouti is a port in Djibouti City, in Republic of Djibouti. The port links Europe, the Far East, the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf. The port is located on the south shores of the Gulf of Tadjoura off the Gulf of Aden.
The Port of Djibouti has 18 berths with a total quay length of 2830 meters. The general cargo facility has eight berths. The Container Terminal contains two berths. The Oil Terminal has two berths with alongside depth of 18 meters.
6. Port of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
The East African port of Dar-es-Salaam is a crucial port of Tanzania, capable of handling more than 10 million tonnes of cargo, including 5 million dry bulk and 6 million liquid cargo annually. A natural, well-sheltered harbour, it consists of 11 deepwater berths stretching to 2600 m. About 95 per cent of Tanzania’s international maritime trade is handled at this facility. The port provides convenient freight linkages to and from Eastern and Central Africa.
It has seven general cargo berths for handling breakbulk, roro and dry cargo. A fully mechanised grain terminal is located in the eastern port area with a handling capacity of 30,000 tonnes. There are two oil terminals at the Dar-es-salaam port, including the Single point mooring and the Kurasini oil jetty. The former is an offshore tanker berth for crude and refined oil. Tankers weighing 20,000 DWT can be moored at the facility, connected to Dar es Salaam, Zambia and Ndola refineries through floating hoses and underwater pipes. The latter is a taker jetty dedicated to refined oil products only.
Dar es Salaam port is the most important port in Tanzania. It has a rated capacity of 4 million (dwt) dry cargo and 6 million (dwt) bulk liquid cargo. 95% of the Tanzania’s international trade is handled at the port. The port also serves to Malawi, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.
Dar es Salaam is Tanzania’s major city with industries and seat of government. The Port of Dar es Salaam is the main export location for most of the country’s agricultural and mineral exports.
7. Port of Beira, Mozambique
Beira port is situated at the confluence of the Punge and Buzi rivers. Lying in the heartland of Mozambique, it is linked to the African hinterland and serves as a vital transhipment port for Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia and Congo.
Beira Container terminal is one of the most modern facilities in South Africa. It includes a 645 m long pier with a water depth of 12 m. It has a 10,000 TEU storage capacity and 148 reefer connections. Presently, the terminal can handle around 300,000 TEUs annually. The port’s general cargo terminal incorporates four specialised berths covering 680 m for accommodating dry cargo carriers and breakbulk. Around 2.1 million tonnes were handled at the airport in 2020. The grain terminal processes 4000 to 5000 tonnes of grains every day.
The Port of Beira is located on the northern part of the Mozambique Channel. Central African products are exported through Port of Beira. Thanks to the railways from Zimbabwe, Congo, Zambia and Malawi that end in the Port of Beira, it serves as the main port for inland nations.
Beira is the third largest in Mozambique. The container terminal has 4 berths with a total length of 645 metres. The terminal has a projected capacity of 400,000 TEUs per year.
8. Port of Walvis Bay, Namibia
Lying near the coast of Namibia with direct linkages to crucial shipping routes, Walvis Bay is a natural harbour and the biggest cargo port in Namibia. It provides efficient and reliable customer service and is renowned for its world-class facilities.
Numerous industrial units manufacture salt and plastics and engage in processing petroleum, seafood, and mining activities near the port area. Walvis Bay port serves these industries and the hinterland by exporting the finished products produced in these regions. Namibia possesses one of the world’s most productive fishing grounds, and the Walvis Bay port contributes immensely to the development of local fisheries.
Located half way down the coast of Namibia, Walvis Bay is an important port for international trade. It has direct access to major shipping routes. The Port Walvis Bay is the largest commercial port in Namibia and it receives approximately three thousand vessels annually. The port handles 5 million tons of cargo.
The Port of Walvis Bay is equipped with world-class infrastructure and reliable machinery. Cargos are handled in a reliable and secure way. The Port of Walvis Bay handles containers, transshipments, and bulk of commodities.
Namport, the operator of Walvis Bay, constructed a new container terminal. It increased the handling capacity from 350 thousand TEU to 750 thousand TEU.
9. Port Said, Egypt
The Port Said Port Authority (PSPA) is responsible for the management and operations of the port. Port Said includes Port Said West, El Arish Port and Port Said East. The port is installed with state-of-the-art technologies.
Port Said handles approximately 15 million tons of cargo every year on vessels with 13 meters draft. Port Said contains a Dry Bulk Terminal with combined silos and warehouses, which can store about two million tons. The Container Terminal has 8 berths. The terminal’s capacity is 700,000 TEUs. There are also reefers and refrigerated containers. The General Cargo Terminal has 7 berths.
10. Port of Tanger Med, Morocco
Tanger Med port is located on the Gibraltar Strait, near Tangier, Morocco. It is the largest port in the North African region, possessing two container terminals, a RORO terminal, grain handling facilities and a passenger port.
Tanger Med I comprises two container terminals with an annual handling capacity of 3 million TEUs. Tanger-Med handled 7,174,870 TEUs in 2021, and a total cargo volume of 101,055,713 passed through its general cargo terminal. The RORO terminal crossed the 400,000 mark in the same year, a remarkable achievement.
Tanger Med is the biggest port in North Africa. The Tangiers Port port is located on the Strait of Gibraltar about 40 km east of Tangier, Morocco. It had an annual volume of 3.5 million TEUs in 2018. The port will add six million in capacity after its extension worth of 1.3 billion Euros. After the development, the port will reach volumes of 4.5 million TEU by 2020. It is ranked 18th port in the world.
Additional Key Ports
- Port of Tema, Ghana: Handles 80% of Ghana's international cargo.
- Port of Dakar, Senegal: Managed by Port Autonome de Dakar, handles over 8 million tons of cargo annually.
- Port of Douala, Cameroon: Contains 11 cargo berths and extensive storage facilities.
- Port of Luanda, Angola: Has 4 terminals and is crucial for industrialization in the city.
- Port of Pointe-Noire, Congo: Operated by Bolloré, serves as a transshipment platform within central Africa.
- Port Sudan, Sudan: Managed by the Sea Ports Corporation, handles almost 8 million tons of cargo.
- Port of Algiers, Algeria: An important economic center for Algeria with a newly-constructed container terminal.
- Port of Tripoli, Libya: Handles general and bulk cargoes and passengers.
- Port of Libreville, Gabon: Has an Owendo container terminal meeting international standards.
- Port of Matadi, DRC: Handles 90% of DRC's maritime traffic and is connected to Kinshasa by railways.
- Port of Mogadishu, Somalia: The official seaport of Mogadishu with dedicated facilities for various cargo types.
- Port of Conakry, Guinea: Container terminal operated under a 25-year concession by Bolloré.
- Port of Freetown, Sierra Leone: A major logistics hub with a well-protected anchorage.
- Port of Lomé, Togo: Recognized by ECOWAS as a Free Trade Zone, serving landlocked countries.
- Port of Alexandria, Egypt: Consists of two harbors and handles significant commercial shipping.
