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Transnet Port Terminals announced on 25 June 2026 a R96 million investment in four new hybrid straddle carriers at the Cape Town Container Terminal. The investment comes days after the World Bank and S&P Global Container Port Performance Index 2025 ranked the Port of Cape Town last of 400 ports worldwide. 

The economic impact is set out in a recent written parliamentary reply from the Provincial Department of Agriculture. The reply reveals that an estimated 55,000 tonnes of Western Cape table grapes were forced to divert overland to Eastern Cape ports due to severe port bottlenecks over the peak export window. Beyond table grapes, local deciduous fruit subsectors, including apples, pears, and stone fruit, were also forced to absorb significant additional transport costs just to bypass Cape Town and get their produce to market. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape is deeply concerned by this trend, with producers diverting to alternative gateways as delays at the Cape Town port push up their logistics costs. 

Noko Masipa MPP, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Agriculture, Economic Development, and Tourism, said: "Four machines are a drop in the bucket for a port ranked the worst in the world, and they cannot mask the systemic management failure at the root of this crisis. The DA will not allow the Western Cape’s most important economic gateway to fail. Exporters, emerging farms and commercial growers are being forced to find greener pastures because Cape Town’s port leadership is failing to implement structural reforms. Buying new equipment means little if the underlying management model remains broken. ”

Masipa added: “The DA calls on Transnet to open the Cape Town Container Terminal to increased private sector participation and operational concessions. We need agile, globally competent operators to restore efficiency and enable greater job creation. "

The DA will continue to drive stakeholder engagement and oversight over the province’s  logistics infrastructure to ensure the national government opens up this failing monopoly and provides Western Cape producers with the world-class port they need, enabling greater international market access and more jobs for the people of the Western Cape.

Issued by Noko Masipa, MPP - DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism