Most of the world’s top 20 largest container ports saw their volumes rebound in 2021 after the pandemic hit volumes in 2020
1 Shanghai
Shanghai has yet again recorded the largest box port volumes with a much healthier growth rate in contrast to previous years. Its 47M TEU for 2021 highlights a growth spurt of 8.1% compared with 2020. The port’s tiny growth rate of 0.5% between 2019 and 2020 shows the impact of the pandemic. The zero-Covid policy adopted by the Chinese Government has led to challenges for ports in China. Two months of lockdown in the city of Shanghai caused congestion at Shanghai port in April, but waiting times were back to normal in June.
2 Singapore
Singapore remains in second place, with 37.4M TEU, a climb of 1.6% year-on-year. While this increase is small, it reverses a decline seen between 2019 and 2020, when volumes fell by 1.6%. Despite the blip, the port has enjoyed solid annual growth over the last five years. PSA Singapore has been a forward mover in digitalisation as a means of developing trade corridors and boosting supply chains and port efficiency.
3 Ningbo-Zhoushan
Ningbo-Zhoushan saw its container volumes reach 31M TEU in 2021, up a healthy 8.2% year-on-year. The port is on an upwards trajectory, having jumped from fourth to third place in 2017, overtaking Shenzhen.
4 Shenzhen
Shenzhen held onto fourth place with a throughput of 28.7M TEU for 2020, up 8.3% on 2020. But it has been hit hard by Covid – an outbreak led to the shutdown of its Yantian terminal in June last year and the lockdown in the city of Shenzhen in March this year ramped up pressures on the port.
5 Guangzhou
Guangzhou’s 2021 volumes rose to 23.2 TEU, an increase of 2.3% compared with 2020. Its main container port Nansha is one of China’s fastest-growing ports. Port of Nansha was in a good position to help its customers cope with the challenges over the past few years. Guangzhou Port (Europe) chief executive Johannes Nanninga says, “We are a new port so have ample capacity – all major alliances have direct calls, and this paid off for them as there were upheavals in the last two years and ships had to divert to Nansha when Shenzhen port closed.” It is building on its success with infrastructure projects tapping into its hinterland. An important new development is that Nansha now has the first train station in a terminal in south China. It welcomed its first train at the terminal in December last year.
6 Qingdao
Qingdao container port’s volumes jumped by 7.7% to reach 23.7M TEU in 2021 versus 2020. The Bohai Bay port overtook Hong Kong Port in 2019, pushing the latter port back to number eight at the time. The port’s fully automated container terminal helped the port cope with the impact of Covid-19.
7 Busan
Busan Port saw its volumes jump by 4% to 22.6M TEU. The port has big ambitions to cement its position as the largest transhipment hub port in northeast Asia. South Korea’s Government, with private funding, plans to invest more than US$35Bn in up to 12 ports in the next 20 years to increase shiphandling capacity.
8 Tianjin
Tianjin is the fastest-growing Chinese port in the top 20, with a leap of 10.4% year-on-year to reach 20.2M TEU in 2021. The port has jumped up by two places in the top container ports rankings since 2016. Last year, COSCO Shipping Ports boosted its equity by 34.99% in Tianjin Port Container Terminal to reach 45%.
9 Los Angeles/Long Beach
Los Angeles and Long Beach have jumped from number 10 to 9 with a huge jump of 15.8% to hit 20.06M TEU. The ports have seen record volumes and have experienced congestion problems, although these are being ironed out. The ports are deploying digitalisation solutions to help diffuse congestion issues and boost efficiency.
10 Hong Kong
Hong Kong has been pushed back to number 10 from 9 after being overtaken by the ports of LA/Los Angeles. Its volumes have climbed 2.7% to 17.7M TEU. This is an improvement on its 2020 performance, when volumes declined by 5.3%.
11 Rotterdam
Port of Rotterdam’s liftings have jumped by 6.6% to 15.3M – an about-turn compared with last year when they were down by 0.03%. A major strategy for the port is boosting the productivity and efficiency of its container terminals’ operations with a strong digitalisation strategy, including just-in-time arrivals.
12 Jebel Ali, Dubai
DP World’s Dubai complex saw its volumes rise slightly by 1.6% to 13.7M TEU in 2021. One of DP World’s major strategies is to focus on technology and data-driven logistics – something it has accelerated since the pandemic. It has implemented the Zodiac terminal operating system in Jebel Ali Port’s Container Terminal 3. The fully automated system includes advanced solutions for remotely controlling the port’s facilities.
13 Port Klang
Malaysia’s Port Klang’s volumes rose by 3.4% to 13.7M TEU, following a drop of 2.5% between 2019 and 2020. The transhipment port has been growing steadily within intra-Asia trades.
14 Xiamen
Xiamen’s volumes rose by 5.4% to 12M TEU in 2021, allowing it to jump up from number 15 to 14 in the global ranks. In 2010, Xiamen Port incorporated the neighbouring port of Zhangzhou to form the largest port in China’s southeast region, which has had a very positive impact on its volumes over the past decade.
15 Antwerp
Antwerp’s container volumes have stayed static – dropping by 0.1% to 12M. It has fallen from 14 in the rankings to 15, having been overtaken by Xiamen. Antwerp Port Authority vice president international relations and networks Luc Arnouts previously told CST, “We are proud that in 2020, despite Covid, Antwerp was one of the few ports that could continue its growth pattern. In 2021, our volumes stabilised, and we lost market share which relates to the worldwide disruptions which hit the major ports.”
16 Tanjung Pelepas
Malaysia’s largest port achieved 11.2M TEU in 2021, up an impressive 13.8% year-on-year. It competes with Singapore and Port Klang as a transhipment hub for southeast Asia. Tanjung Pelepas is investing around US$2.1Bn under its latest plan to further improve the port’s capacity over the next five to 15 years.
17 Kaohsiung
Taiwan’s flagship port, Kaohsiung’s volumes have increased by 2.5% to 9.8M – a much better performance than last year, when it saw its volumes slump by 7.7% to 9.62M TEU. Kaohsiung port is a transhipment hub, and it wants to develop and expand its role as an international transhipment hub further.
18 New York/Newark
New York/Newark has jumped from number 20 to 18 with its volumes soaring by 18.5% to 8.9M TEU. In 2019, its Bayonne Bridge was lifted, allowing bigger ships of up to 18,000 TEU to visit.
19 Hamburg
Port of Hamburg saw its volumes rise by 1.7% to 8.7M TEU. The port noted in a statement about its annual volumes, “In 2021, the worldwide repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic again affected handling and transport trends in Germany’s largest universal port”. Nevertheless, rail freight transport reached a record level in 2021, with an 8% growth for containers. There was also a rapid growth of container shipments along the New Silk Road.
20 Laem Chabang
Laem Chabang’s volumes jumped by 12.9% to 8.5M TEU, allowing the port to climb from number 21 last year to 20. The outlook is positive for the port. In June 2020, Laem Chabang received its first mega-container ship – marking a significant expansion of the country’s container shipping capabilities – when MSC Mina, a 23,656-TEU box ship, made its maiden call.
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