Solly Lekau Letsoalo, chief operating officer for the port terminals division of Transnet, the state-owned transport company, points at two lines on a chart. One tracks the demand for freight passing through South Africa’s container ports; the other shows the capacity of its terminals to handle them.

Clear blue water has recently emerged between the two, as a heavy investment programme is finally easing some of the pressure on the country’s overloaded logistics infrastructure. But with freight demand continuing to rise, the lines are forecast to meet again in 2013 unless big expansion programmes are given the green light. South Africa’s ambitions for emulating its fellow emerging markets and continuing to grow as an important power in global trade rest on its ability to move goods around the country and through its ports.