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Africa’s busiest ports


Over 90% of Africa’s imports and exports are transported by sea and so there is a need for innovation in the field of maritime.

Thus, here is the lowdown of Africa’s largest ports as of the year 2020, based on improvement and investment plans, as well as the measuring unit which is a twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU).

TEU is a unit often used to describe container ships and container terminals.

1. Tangier Med port (Morocco) – Tangier Med port is the largest port in the continent with over 9 million TEUs. It ranks 18th in the world. The port is a strategic priority for the Moroccan government for the economic and social development of the north Morocco region.

2. Port of Durban (South Africa) – The South African port is the largest and busiest shipping terminal in sub-Saharan. It handles Africa up to 5.6 million TEUs and generates 60% of the country’s revenue.

3. Port Said (Egypt) – It is the busiest port in Egypt and has about 3.5 million TEUs. It is divided into Port Said port and East port Said port.

4. Port of Ngqura (South Africa) – It is a deepwater port on the east coast of the Indian ocean of South Africa with roughly 2 million TEUs. The port is South Africa’s newest and the deepest container port in the country.

5. Port of Mombasa (Kenya) – The port is Kenya’s principle seaport with an estimated 1.65 million TEUs and comprises of Kilindini, Port Reitz, Old port, and Port Tudor harbours. The coastal port is the main gateway to East Africa’s land-locked countries.

6. Port of Casablanca- With about 1.65 million TEUs, it is one of the largest artificial ports in the world and is located in Morocco. The port can accommodate more than 35 ships at the same time.

7. Port of Doraleh (Djibouti) – The port is an extension of the port of Djibouti located west of Djibouti city with at least 1.6 million TEUs

8. Port of Abidjan (Ivory Coast) – The Ivorian port has about 1.3 million TEUs and is one of the most important ports in west Africa. According to the Ivorian Ministry of economy and finance, the port is responsible for 63% of the nation’s economy.

9. Tema port (Ghana) – It is located in the southeast of Ghana with 1.21 million TEUs. The construction began in the 1950’s and it handles 80% of the country’s imports and exports.

10. Damietta port –The Egyptian port has at least 1.2 million TEUs. It has installations that extend to an area of 11.8 km2. Damietta’s entrance channel is 11.4km long, 15m deep and 300m wide.