Africa: The 10 best container ports in 2025, with Morocco leading the way with Tanger Med

The Moroccan port of Tangier Med has emerged as the most efficient port platform on the African continent in the 2025 edition of the Container Port Performance Index ( CPPI ), published on June 10, 2026, by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence . Ranked 6th globally out of 400 ports assessed, the hub on the Strait of Gibraltar surpasses the Egyptian port of Port Said, which has fallen to 15th globally and 2nd in Africa, after having topped the continental ranking the previous year.

The CPPI methodology is based on an objective measurement: the time elapsed between a ship’s arrival at the roadstead and its departure from the berth, once loading and unloading operations have been completed. The shorter this delay, the higher the score.

Tanger Med regains the lead, Port Said falls back

Tanger Med’s score reached 134 points in 2025, compared to 136 in 2024, a slight decline that did not prevent the Moroccan port from regaining its position as the leading port in Africa. According to the Tanger Med Port Authority, the platform handled more than 11.1 million containers in 2025, an 8.4% increase compared to the previous year, while total cargo traffic reached 161 million tons, a 13.3% year-on-year increase.

Port Said, whose score has fallen by 20 points compared to 2024, to 117, is directly affected by disruptions to maritime traffic in the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, areas which concentrate a significant share of global trade routes linking Asia to Europe.

Five North African ports in the continental Top 10

The African ranking confirms the dominance of North African platforms, which occupy five of the continent’s top ten positions. Behind Tangier Med and Port Said, the port of Djibouti (53rd globally) completes the African podium. Next come the Egyptian ports of Damietta (105th globally) and El Sokhna (115th), followed by Mogadishu in Somalia (127th), Dakar in Senegal (144th), El Dekheila in Egypt (179th), and San Pedro in Ivory Coast (211th). The port of Malabo, in Equatorial Guinea , rounds out this African Top 10 at 222nd globally.

Structurally longer layover times in sub-Saharan Africa

The World Bank points to structural weaknesses to explain the underperformance of African ports outside the north of the continent. Sub-Saharan platforms experience longer turnaround times, attributable to capacity constraints, limited investment in automation, insufficient connectivity with the hinterland, and weak inter-port competition. Import-dominated ports—the vast majority in Africa—also suffer from less reliable management of storage space, which mechanically increases operating times.

The next edition of the CPPI , which is published annually, will allow us to measure whether the reforms undertaken in several African ports — particularly in Dakar, where expansion work is underway as part of the new port of Ndayane — are resulting in improved operational efficiency scores.