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The Middle East’s port performance has dropped on the World Bank and S&P Global’s Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), according to a recent report (pdf) which assesses the operational performance of container ports worldwide. Qatar’s Hamad Port, which dropped three places y-o-y to settle at the 11th spot and Egypt’s Port Said fell six places claiming 16th.
The UAE saw major drops in performance: Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Port saw a major drop to 29th place from its previous ranking in third place. Jebel Ali came in 49th place, dropping 11 places from last year, while Sharjah recorded a slight rise by four places to sit at 123th place.
Saudi ports dipped in this year’s rankings: KSA’s King Abdullah Port — which held first place on the 2021 index (pdf) — sharply declined to settle at 30th place, falling from 17th place in 2022. Jeddah also experienced a significant drop to 58th place from 29th place in 2022. Similarly, Dammam slipped four spots from last year, to settle at 35th place.
There were exceptions: Oman’s Salalah Port remained at the top of the list, securing the second overall spot — unchanged from 2021. Similarly, Morocco’s Tangier-Mediterranean also retained its spot in fourth place on the ranking.
GCC countries underperformed overall: Kuwait’s Shuwaikh Port dropped from 73rd place to 208th, while Shuaiba ranked in 161st, down from 121st. Oman’s Sohar Port also recorded a dip to 66th place, down from 49th. On a positive note, Bahrain’s Khalifa Bin Salman Port jumped up by 30 places, nabbing 43th place.
The Levantine ports told a mixed tale: Jordan’s Aqaba Port fell to 87th place, dropping from 59th the year prior and from its position in the 30s in 2021. Over in Lebanon, Beirut Port leaped up to 68th place, after ranking near the bottom 10 at 320 last year. Tripoli Port’s ranking increased to 102nd place from 219th.
Egypt’s Mediterranean-linked ports creeped up in the rankings: Egypt’s Sokhna Port jumped up to 122, up from 269 the year prior. Alexandria Port increased to 172, up from 268. Yemen’s Port of Aden came in at 237, up from 262.
Israel was hit hard: Haifa port saw its rankings plummet to 119th place from 56th. Israel’s key ports, including the Mediterranean’s Haifa and the Red Sea port of Eilat, continue to be targeted by Iranian proxies, with several incidents reported in June alone.
Bridging operational gaps: Average global port call times increased in 2023 to 40.5 hours, a slight rise from 36.8 hours the year prior. Some 3.71 hours, 11.7%, were spent as idle time at berths before and after cargo operations. To streamline operations, ports will need to focus on implementing more efficient planning, preparation, and communication techniques to reduce the almost four hours spent in stalled time, the report recommends.
Port congestion is on the rise in 2024: The number of ships crossing through the Suez Canal has dropped by 66%, with attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea forcing ships to divert their vessels around Africa since late last year. “These disruptions have led to service reconfigurations and volume shifts, straining infrastructure and resulting in port congestion, delays, and shortages in capacity and equipment,” Maersk said this month, adding that a “timeline for easing these disruptions and returning to normal remains uncertain.”
And we can expect more challenges to come: Congestion at Jebel Ali Port rose sharply in 2Q 2024, as the port looked to support vessels being rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope. An increase in vessel arrivals has resulted in inter-terminal lags and weakened operational efficiency, with high yard density at various terminals straining port facilities. So, delay times spiked in May, hitting three to four days, with vessels’ arrival-to-berthing wait time reaching up to seven days. As such, “the congestion at Jebel Ali also necessitated the rerouting and omission of varying terminals,” Business Development Manager of Finmar Group Ahmed Mouselhy told Enterprise.
Exploring alternative routes: To maneuver through the disruptions, major shipping lines have been “forced to load and distribute their eastbound Gulf, ISC, and Far East Volume — specifically out of Sokhna — onto feeder operations like XPress to ensure continuity of operations,” Mousehly added.
