South Africa’s ports miss the boat as ships reroute via the Cape

Ships avoiding attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea are sailing past the Cape of Good Hope. Neither Cape Town nor Durban have seen an uptick in ships docking to refuel. One reason why ships bypass Durban is because of how congested it is. In mid-April, the average wait time was 4 days, according to Portcast, which tracks global shipping carriers. The average wait time at Mombasa in Kenya or Pointe Noire in the Republic of Congo is less than 2 days. In China’s Shanghai port, where 336 ships were waiting to dock between 15 and 21 April, the wait time was 1.1 days.

Although Shell plans to sell off its service stations and refinery, it will retain its explorative and extractive activities in the Karoo and off the Wild Coast.

South Africa is way behind countries such as the UK when it comes to sales of electric vehicles. Although the countries have similar-sized populations – 60-million for South Africa and 67-million for the UK – the latter sold hundreds of thousands more EVs last year. South Africa only sold 1,080 electric vehicles in 2023, according to the International Energy Agency, an independent organisation that focuses on the global energy sector.

More than 450,000 were sold in the UK and 8.1-million were sold in China, the most in the world. The high price range, lack of variety and charging stations are some reasons why South Africans have been slow to take to the green road.

Most of the electric vehicles available in SA are high-end cars from manufacturers such as Volvo, Porsche and Mini. With a starting price of R687,000, the GWM ORA 03 is one of the cheapest EVs in South Africa, according to cars.co.za.

Attacks to commercial ships in the Red Sea have led to companies rerouting their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Suez Canal.

Although at least 10-million South Africans are at least three months behind on their repayments, the appetite for credit remains high.

Two decades ago, two of South Africa’s biggest retailers were almost on a par. We take a look at the metrics to see what has changed since then.

Paying for basic services such as transport and electricity can swallow up 60% of a minimum wage, leaving about R1,560 for food and other expenses.

As large numbers of properties are turned into short-term rental accommodation for visitors, housing options for local residents decrease.

Half of the world’s diamonds come from Africa, but Botswana, the continent’s top producer, didn’t own much of what it mined, until now.

Africa’s population is growing at a fast rate and its population is younger than anywhere else.

Every month we take a look at the in-store prices of the same basket of goods across six major retailers – Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar, Food Lover’s Market and Woolworths.

Every month we take a look at the in-store prices of the same basket of goods across six major retailers – Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar, Food Lover’s Market and Woolworths.

Our basket of nine basic items will set you back R431 at Spar, which is R39 more expensive than the same goods at Woolworths. Find out more in our November update.

For two months in a row, Spar’s basket has been the most expensive option. Shoprite’s has been the most affordable since we added the retailer to the list in August.

Before 2006, businesses used to match the government’s spending on research and development in South Africa, now the government spends more.

Spar’s basket was the most expensive option this month and Shoprite’s was the cheapest. The same bag of groceries differed by R48. Find out more in our September 2022 update.

We’ve added a new retailer to our grocery basket comparison. Now, we look at the in-store prices of the same basket of goods across five retailers.

An update on our in-store survey of the same basket of basic goods at eight of South Africa’s major retailers, including, Checkers, Shoprite, Spar, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Food Lover’s Market, Boxer Superstores and Makro.

Every month we take a look at the in-store prices of the same basket of goods across four major retailers – Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar and Woolworths.

Here’s a look back at 12 months of collecting prices for basic goods at a selection of South Africa’s major retailers. Since we started this project in June 2022, a lot has changed.