Top 10 Busiest Ports in Africa in 2026

Published: November 10, 2026

Key Facts

• Tanger Med in Morocco is Africa's busiest container port. It handled 11,106,164 TEU in calendar 2025, up 8.4% on 2024, and ranks 16th in the world in Lloyd's List's 2026 ranking.
• Egypt has three ports in the top 10: Port Said (2nd), Alexandria (4th) and Damietta (8th). Together they handled about 8.7 million TEU in 2025.
• Nigeria has no port in the top 10. Its busiest single port, Apapa in Lagos, handled 800,943 TEU in 2025, well below the 1.1 million TEU needed to make the list.
• The top 10 ports handled 32.2 million TEU in 2025. Tanger Med alone moved 34.5% of that total, more than the second and third ports combined.
• Figures are calendar 2025 container throughput in TEU. Three figures are estimates or rounded and are marked with an asterisk: Durban, Alexandria and Lomé. The Methodology explains how each was derived.

* Estimate or rounded figure. See Methodology.

Together, the top 10 handled 32,217,623 TEU in 2025. Tanger Med alone moved 34.5% of that total. It also handled about as many containers as every port in Egypt combined. Egypt's national total was 11.1 million TEU in 2025. New port infrastructure is reshaping trade corridor economics across the continent.

1. Tanger Med, Morocco

Tanger Med handled 11,106,164 TEU in 2025. That is up 8.4% from about 10.24 million TEU in 2024. It ranks 16th in the world in Lloyd's List's 2026 ranking. The port sits on the Strait of Gibraltar. Four container terminals move the traffic, run by APM Terminals, Eurogate and Marsa Morocco. Growth came from the TC4 terminal extension. Total cargo reached 161 million tonnes, up 13.3%. A third expansion, Tanger Med 3, is planned to enter service in 2031 with 4.5 million TEU of capacity. No other African port comes close. Tanger Med handled 2.5 times the volume of the second port, Port Said. It also handled more than Port Said and Durban combined.

2. Port Said, Egypt

Port Said handled 4,439,000 TEU in 2025, according to Egypt's transport ministry. That is up from 3.9 million TEU in 2024. The port sits at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. It climbed into the world's top 50 container ports in Lloyd's List's 2026 ranking. Port Said also ranked third in the world in the 2024 Container Port Performance Index from the World Bank and S&P Global. A second container terminal opened at East Port Said in November 2025. It adds about 2.2 million TEU of capacity. The port is Egypt's main transit point for trade between Asia and Europe.

3. Durban, South Africa

Durban handled about 2.75 million TEU in 2025. The figure is an estimate. South Africa's port authority publishes monthly container counts but no calendar-year total. Four monthly counts, from February to November 2025, average 229,292 TEU a month. That points to about 2.75 million TEU for the year. The estimate also fits the national picture. South Africa handled 4,473,000 TEU in 2025, and Durban moves about 60% of the country's containers. Durban Container Terminal Pier 1 handled 728,000 TEU in the 2025/26 financial year. Pier 2 handles about 1.6 million TEU a year. Its capacity will rise from 2.0 million to 2.8 million TEU under a 25-year joint venture with ICTSI. Durban is the only South African port in the top 10. Cape Town and Ngqura each handled well under 1 million TEU in 2025.

4. Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria handled about 2.5 million TEU in calendar 2025. The figure is an estimate. The port authority reported 2.6 million TEU for the financial year 2025/26, which runs from July 2025 to June 2026. That was up 13% on the year before and a record for the port. Total cargo topped 82 million tonnes, also a record. The Tahya Misr terminal, run by CMA CGM, has handled about 2.5 million containers since it opened. Alexandria's first dry port, at El Amreya, opened in October 2026 to ease pressure on the seaport. Alexandria ranks 87th in the world in Lloyd's List's 2026 ranking.

5. Lomé, Togo

Lomé handled about 2.4 million TEU in 2025, up 16% from 2.06 million TEU in 2024. It ranks 91st in the world in Lloyd's List's 2026 ranking. It is the leading port in sub-Saharan Africa and the fifth busiest in Africa. Lomé is a transshipment hub. Most of its cargo is moved between ships rather than into Togo itself. In September 2025 the port dredged its channel to 18.6 metres deep. It can now take ships carrying 19,000 to 24,000 TEU. Lomé Container Terminal is spending 120 million euros to expand capacity to 2.5 million TEU by 2027. Lomé has now spent six straight years in the world's top 100 ports.

6. Tema, Ghana

Tema handled 2,290,531 TEU in 2025, up 34.6% from 1,701,246 TEU in 2024. That is the fastest growth in the top 10. It was enough to put Tema in Lloyd's List's top 100 ports for the first time. Part of the jump came from shipping lines that diverted vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. The port's Terminal 3 expansion cost 1.5 billion dollars. It raised capacity from 800,000 TEU to 3 million TEU a year. The new terminal was inaugurated in November 2025. Growth has strained the port. Ghana's shippers examined congestion at Tema in September 2026. Tema is the second-busiest container port in West Africa, but only just. Lomé, in fifth place, handled about 109,000 TEU more.

7. Mombasa, Kenya

Mombasa handled 2,109,797 TEU in 2025, up 5.5% from 2.00 million TEU in 2024. The rise was 109,797 TEU. Total cargo hit a record 45.45 million tonnes, up 10% on 2024. Transit cargo grew 19.5% to 15.88 million tonnes. Most of it was bound for Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Transshipment fell 22.3% to 385,656 TEU. Mombasa is East Africa's main gateway. CMA CGM agreed in May 2026 to invest about 820 million dollars in the port. Berth 19B will add about 300,000 TEU of capacity. Two more berths will add 1.4 million TEU.

8. Damietta, Egypt

Damietta handled 1,800,000 TEU in 2025, according to Egypt's transport ministry. The port sits on the Nile Delta, about 70 kilometres west of Port Said. Its new Tahya Misr 1 terminal has 3.5 million TEU of annual capacity. It began trial operations in February 2026. The terminal is run by a Eurogate-led alliance with Contship Italia and Hapag-Lloyd. Egypt's ministry counts Damietta among the world's 10 fastest-growing container terminals. Damietta gives Egypt its third port in the top 10. No other African country has three.

9. Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Abidjan handled 1,697,131 TEU in 2025, according to the port authority's own results. Total cargo reached 46.6 million tonnes, up 16.1% on 2024. That makes Abidjan the largest port in West Africa by total tonnage, even though it ranks ninth for containers. A second container terminal doubled container volumes from 840,926 TEU in 2022. Transit traffic to Mali surged 76.4% in 2025. Traffic to Burkina Faso rose 16.6%. Abidjan has set a public target of 2 million TEU by 2027. Its two container terminals have combined capacity of about 2.5 million TEU a year.

10. Casablanca, Morocco

Casablanca handled 1,125,000 TEU in 2025, up 8.9% from 1,033,000 TEU in 2024. The figure covers container traffic managed by Marsa Maroc, the port's main operator. Casablanca is Morocco's largest port and its economic centre. It covers 450 hectares with over 8 kilometres of quays. It can berth 40 vessels at once. Marsa Maroc handled 67 million tonnes of cargo across Morocco in 2025. Casablanca's container volume was only just enough to hold the last place in the top 10. Djibouti, the first port outside the list, handled 1,062,067 TEU in 2025. The gap between them was 62,933 TEU.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the busiest port in Africa in 2026?

Tanger Med in Morocco. It handled 11,106,164 TEU in 2025 and ranks 16th in the world in Lloyd's List's 2026 ranking. It handled 2.5 times the volume of the second port, Port Said in Egypt.

How many containers did Tanger Med handle in 2025?

Tanger Med handled 11,106,164 TEU in 2025, up 8.4% from about 10.24 million TEU in 2024. That is about as many containers as all of Egypt's ports handled combined. Egypt's national total was 11.1 million TEU in 2025.

Which country has the most ports in Africa's top 10?

Egypt, with three: Port Said (2nd), Alexandria (4th) and Damietta (8th). Together they handled about 8.7 million TEU in 2025. Morocco has two ports in the top 10, Tanger Med and Casablanca, with 12.2 million TEU combined.

Why is no Nigerian port in Africa's top 10?

Nigeria's container traffic is split across several ports. Apapa in Lagos, its biggest single port, handled 800,943 TEU in 2025. That is 324,057 TEU short of Casablanca, the 10th port on the list. Nigeria as a whole handled just over 2.1 million TEU in 2025. That is less than a fifth of Tanger Med alone.

What is a TEU?

A TEU is a twenty-foot equivalent unit. It is the standard measure of container volume in shipping. One TEU is one 20-foot container. A 40-foot container counts as two TEU. This ranking counts every container a port handles, including containers that are moved between ships and empty containers.

Data Sources

• Lloyd's List, One Hundred Ports 2026, reported by Togo First: Port of Lomé Holds Sub-Saharan Africa Lead, Ranks 91st Globally
• Tanger Med Port Authority, reported by Walaw: Tanger Med rises to 16th globally after handling more than 11 million containers
• Egypt Ministry of Transport, reported by Al-Ahram: Egyptian ports' container traffic jumps 24.3% in 2025 amid transit trade boom
• Egypt Ministry of Transport, reported by the Egyptian Gazette: Egypt's seaports achieve record growth in container traffic, global rankings
• Transnet National Ports Authority, monthly TEU statistics for 2025: TEUs, June 2025 and TEUs, November 2025
• Southern African Association of Freight Forwarders and Business Unity South Africa, reported by Cape Business News: SA ports handle 4.5m containers in 2025 as logistics reforms gain traction
• Alexandria Port Authority, reported by Daily News Egypt: Alexandria Port cargo throughput tops 82mln tonnes in FY2025/26
• Lloyd's List, reported by NewsGhana: Record Tema volumes test Nikpe's six-point plan for ports
• Kenya Ports Authority, reported by Port Technology International: Port of Mombasa hits 2.1 million TEUs in 2025
• Kenya Ports Authority, reported by the Kenya News Agency: Mombasa port records growth in cargo volume, vessel traffic in 2025
• Port Autonome d'Abidjan, reported by PWIC: Ports and terminals
• Ecofin Agency: In West African Port Competition, Abidjan Leads on Volume, Trails Lomé and Tema on Containers
• Marsa Maroc, reported by Maghreb Insider: Marsa Maroc lifts 2025 profit by 25%
• SGTD Doraleh Terminal, 2025 performance sheet (Djibouti, first port outside the top 10)
• Nigerian Ports Authority, reported by The Sun, July 9, 2026 (Apapa 2025 throughput)

Methodology

This ranking uses calendar 2025 container throughput, measured in TEU. TEU stands for twenty-foot equivalent unit. One TEU is one 20-foot container. A 40-foot container counts as two TEU. The backbone is Lloyd's List's One Hundred Ports 2026 ranking, which uses 2025 data and was released in 2026.

Three figures are estimates or rounded and are marked with an asterisk in the table. Durban has no published calendar-year total. South Africa's port authority publishes monthly container counts. Four months in 2025, February, June, August and November, averaged 229,292 TEU a month. That points to about 2.75 million TEU for the year. The estimate fits the national total of 4,473,000 TEU, of which Durban moves about 60%. Alexandria has no published calendar-year total either. The port authority reported 2.6 million TEU for the financial year 2025/26, which runs from July 2025 to June 2026. We estimate calendar 2025 at about 2.5 million TEU. Lomé's figure of about 2.4 million TEU is rounded. Two Togo sources agree on it. The gap between Lomé and Tema is narrow, about 109,000 TEU, so the order of fifth and sixth is close.

Port Said's figure comes from Egypt's transport ministry: 4,439,000 TEU in calendar 2025. Other figures exist. A Euromediterranean port map gives Port Said East 5.57 million TEU in 2025. The Suez Canal Economic Zone gives 5.9 million TEU for East Port Said in the financial year 2025/26. Those use different scopes and periods. Port Said stays second under any of the three figures, so we use the ministry's calendar figure. The ministry and Togo First disagree on Port Said's world rank. The ministry says 47th. Togo First's reading of the Lloyd's List table says 43rd. We state only that Port Said is in the world's top 50. The ministry also says Damietta ranks 90th in the world. That cannot sit beside Lomé's 91st at a higher TEU in the same TEU-ordered ranking, so we do not repeat a world rank for Damietta.

Some Ghanaian press calls Tema West Africa's busiest container gateway. That comparison uses Lomé's 2024 figure of 2.06 million TEU. Togo sources put Lomé's 2025 volume at about 2.4 million TEU, ahead of Tema's 2,290,531 TEU. Lloyd's List ranks Lomé fifth in Africa and ahead of Tema. Casablanca's figure is container traffic managed by Marsa Maroc at the port. Djibouti's figure of 1,062,067 TEU comes from the terminal operator's own 2025 performance sheet and has no second source.

All figures are calendar 2025 unless marked as a financial year. The ranking was published on November 10, 2026.