Two big companies are fighting over who should fix South Africa's biggest port in Durban. ICTSI won the right to improve the port in 2023 and promised to spend R11 billion to improve its operation.
Another company, Maersk, lost the competition to fix the port. They became upset and went to court to complain. This has stopped all the important work from starting at the port. The leader of ICTSI says Maersk just wants to block progress that South Africa needs.
The port has many problems, right? Fruit farmers lost R5.2 billion in 2024 because the port works very slowly. Other businesses also lose money every day because of these problems. The World Bank says the ports in Durban and Cape Town are some of the worst ports anywhere in the world. They need new machines and better ways of working.
ICTSI runs 32 ports in many different countries. It wants to work with the South African government to improve things. It says it can bring new ideas and better ways of doing things. But Maersk, which owns ships and some ports, keeps trying to stop it.
The people at ICTSI think Maersk wants to control the port for its own ships, which would make things unfair for other shipping companies. ICTSI promises to treat all ships the same way and help everyone who uses the port. They say this will make South Africa better at trading with other countries.
Another company, Maersk, lost the competition to fix the port. They became upset and went to court to complain. This has stopped all the important work from starting at the port. The leader of ICTSI says Maersk just wants to block progress that South Africa needs.
The port has many problems, right? Fruit farmers lost R5.2 billion in 2024 because the port works very slowly. Other businesses also lose money every day because of these problems. The World Bank says the ports in Durban and Cape Town are some of the worst ports anywhere in the world. They need new machines and better ways of working.
ICTSI runs 32 ports in many different countries. It wants to work with the South African government to improve things. It says it can bring new ideas and better ways of doing things. But Maersk, which owns ships and some ports, keeps trying to stop it.
The people at ICTSI think Maersk wants to control the port for its own ships, which would make things unfair for other shipping companies. ICTSI promises to treat all ships the same way and help everyone who uses the port. They say this will make South Africa better at trading with other countries.
