Top 10 busiest container ports in the world in terms of traffic
Covid-19 hit supply chains around the world in 2020, and in 2021 the container shortage made headlines. As globalization has increased and import and export levels have risen, the role of ports has become more important than ever. Here we profile the world’s ten busiest ports based on twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) moved through the port.
1. Shanghai, China
Container traffic in thousand TEU, 2020: 43,500
The Port of Shanghai, located on the Yangtze Delta, is the busiest in the world and has held this position since 2010. The port has been active for more than 100 years, but only really started to flourish internationally in the 1990s, after China opened up its economy.
The area covered by the port is approximately 3,620 km2 and consists of 293,000 m2 of warehouses and 4.7 million square meters of storage yards. About 2,000 ships leave the port of Shanghai every month. The port is part of China’s new Maritime Silk Road.
2. Singapore
Container traffic in thousand TEU, 2020: 36,600
Singapore’s port was the busiest in the world until Shanghai took the crown in 2010. It is estimated that the port handles a third of the world’s shipping containers. The two main ports that make up Singapore are PSA Singapore and Jurong Port.
PSA Singapore has 52 container berths, a quay length of 15,500 meters, an area of 600 hectares (ha) and 190 quay cranes. Jurong Port has 32 berths, a berth length of 5.6 km, covers 127 ha in the free trade zone and another 28 ha outside the zone, and the warehouses cover 178,000 m2. Like Shanghai, the port of Singapore is part of the new Maritime Silk Road.
3. Ningbo-Zhoushan, China
Container traffic in thousand TEU, 2020: 28,720
Ningbo-Zhoushan, the second busiest port in China and the third busiest in the world, operates on the coast of the East China Sea, approximately 200 km from Shanghai. Ningbo-Zhoushan is a crossroads between coastal shipping lanes and China’s busy inland waterway system, including the Yangtze River. It includes a seaport (Beilun), an estuary port (Zhenhai) and an inland port (Ningbo Harbour).
Another port that is part of the new Maritime Silk Road, Ningbo-Zhoushan, has 191 berths, including 39 deep-water berths. It also features a purpose-built terminal for sixth-generation container ships.
4. Shenzhen, China
Container traffic in thousand TEU, 2020: 26,550
The Port of Shenzhen consists of a number of ports along the city’s coastline in Guangdong province, and like the city in which it is located, it is growing at a rapid pace. The port is located in the Pearl River Delta and is a short distance from Hong Kong and Guangzhou.
It is once again a port that is part of the new Maritime Silk Road and has 140 berths. Container transport has almost doubled in volume over the past fifteen years.
5. Guangzhou, China
Container traffic in thousand TEU, 2020: 23,190
Guangzhou Port, just over 100 km from Shenzhen and Hong Kong, is another important logistics hub in the Pearl River Delta. Its history dates back to the Qin dynasty of around 200 BC, and the port’s location on three major rivers – Beijiang, Dongjiang and Xijiang – means the center has been considered an important trading area for thousands of years.
The Port of Guangzhou has 4,600 berths and 133 buoys, and has trade routes with more than 300 other ports. It is also part of the Maritime Silk Road. It is a sister port of Rotterdam.
6. Qingdao, China
Container traffic in thousand TEU, 2020: 22,000
Located on the Yellow Sea in China, Qingdao Port consists of four areas: Dagang, Qianwan, Huangdong (an oil-specialized port) and Dongjiakou, 40 km south of Qingdao city.
Qingdao trades with more than 450 other ports and specializes in international trade. The port terminal covers 2.25 million square meters and the total length of the berths is 3,400 meters. The port is closely linked to the Qingdao Free Trade Zone.
7. Busan, South Korea
Container traffic in thousand TEU, 2020: 21,590
Located in South Korea’s second most populous city, Busan Port rose to prominence in the 1970s thanks to its shoe and veneer industries. It consists of four ports (North, South, Gamcheon and Dadaepo), an international passenger terminal and a container terminal.
8. Hong Kong
Container transport in thousand TEU, 2020: 20,070
The Port of Hong Kong has consistently been one of the busiest ports in the world in recent decades (and the busiest as recently as 2004) and remains a major international shipping hub, despite the rise of the nearby ports of Shenzhen and Guangzhou. . It includes nine container terminals, which together have 24 berths and 92 quay cranes.
9. Tianjin, China
Container traffic in thousand TEU, 2020: 18,350
Tianjin Port is located in northern China and provides a maritime gateway to the capital Beijing. It covers a land area of 121 km2 and has 217 berths (of which 140 are production berths). It also has several ship repair and chip building facilities. It has undergone several expansions over the past twenty years.
10. Rotterdam, Netherlands
Container traffic in thousand TEU, 2020: 14,350
The Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the largest port outside Asia, is located on the Rhine Delta and the North Sea. The port has been the busiest in the world at various times in its history – it has been operational since the 14th century – and covers a total of over 12,500 hectares.
Sources: Port websites, Wikipedia, World Port Source, Ship Technology
“The World’s Ten Busiest Ports by Container Traffic” was originally created and published by Investment Monitor, a brand owned by GlobalData.
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