Revisiting marine services pricing in South Africa’s ports

Abstract

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) is the landlord and sole provider of marine services in South Africa’s eight commercial ports. Historically, TNPA set port prices for marine (nautical) services below full cost recovery. Price regulation has improved the situation, but substantial reforms are still required. This paper revisits marine services pricing in South Africa’s ports. The methodology employed content analysis to analyse 99 stakeholders’ submissions to the Ports Regulator of South Africa from financial years 2013/2014 to 2021/2022. The results are discussed under four categories of themes: concerns about the above-inflation price increase, suggestions on alternative marine services pricing models, concerns about marine services provision and productivity, and the disputed cross-subsidization between ports and port user groups. Despite above-inflation price increases for marine services, tariffs remain 44% below the global benchmarked mean, whilst revenues from cargo owners subsidise port tenants and shipping lines. The relatively low prices for marine services may exacerbate the sub-optimal levels of investment and maintenance in marine services. The study recommends that marine services pricing reforms incorporate the user-pays principle, be founded on activity-based costing, and adopt a dual-till model. Activity-based costing is considered the international best practice, and it is the preferable approach recommended by several port users in South Africa.