TOP 50 container ports in the world in 2019 (JOC): Asian ports grow fastest

Continued growth in global trade volumes in 2019 pushed the total container throughput of the 50 busiest cargo ports in the world up 3.5 percent year over year to more than half a billion TEU, according to the JOC Top 50 Global Container Ports 2019 rankings.

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On a regional level, ports in Asia — including the Middle East and Indian subcontinent — continued to increase their already dominant share of the global market, accounting for nearly 79.3 percent of the combined 517 million TEU handled by the top 50 container ports last year, up from just shy of 78 percent in 2018. By comparison, European and North American ports represented 12.7 percent and 6.4 percent of the total, respectively.

The Port of Shanghai maintained its top spot on the list, reporting a 3.1 percent increase in container volume to 43.3 million TEU, more than four times the 9.7 million TEU handled by the busiest North American port, Los Angeles.

Thanks to an acceleration in sourcing shifts toward Southeast Asia and away from China spurred in part by the US-China trade war, Vietnam's Port of Ho Chi Minh City reported the highest growth rate of any port in the top 50 by a wide margin, increasing throughput 72.5 percent to 10.9 million TEU for the year and surging 13 spots to move into 15th place in the process. Volume growth at the Mediterranean hub port of Tangier, Morocco, also vastly outpaced the market, albeit from a slightly smaller base, with container throughput rising 38.4 percent to 4.8 million TEU.

The Port of Rotterdam, the largest non-Asian container gateway, was able to crack the top 10 thanks in part to a 2.1 percent increase in container throughput to 14.8 million TEU.

Only 12 of the top 50 ports showed negative growth from 2017. The flagging Port of Hong Kong, which held the distinction of the world’s busiest container port until it was dethroned by Singapore in 2004, continued to slide down the list, dropping one spot to No. 8 as its throughput dipped 6.3 percent to 18.4 million TEU. The largest declines, however, took place at Yingkou, China, which saw throughput drop 15.8 percent to just under 5.5 million TEU, and Tanjung Priok, Indonesia, down 12.7 percent to 6.8 million TEU.

JOC.com’s annual Top 50 Global Container Ports ranking is assembled using throughput data from port authorities, IHS Markit, and maritime industry analyst Alphaliner. IHS Markit is the parent company of JOC.com. The figures are expressed in millions of TEU, the most common measurement of containerized ocean shipping. One standard 40-foot ocean container equals two TEU. Non-containerized cargoes — i.e. dry bulk, liquid bulk, roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro), and oversized/heavy-lift project freight — are not included.

Rankings compiled by Marcin Lejk, data analyst.

TOP 50 container ports in the world

Total annual container throughput by port, 2019 vs. 2018, in millions of TEU

2019 rank	Port	Location	2019	2018	Percent Volume change
1	Shanghai	China	43.30	42.0	3.1%
2	Singapore	Singapore	37.20	36.6	1.6%
3	Ningbo-Zhoushan	China	27.54	26.4	4.5%
4	Shenzhen	China	25.77	25.7	0.2%
5	Guangzhou	China	23.24	21.9	6.0%
6	Busan	South Korea	21.99	21.7	1.5%
7	Qingdao	China	21.01	19.3	8.8%
8	Hong Kong	China	18.36	19.6	-6.3%
9	Tianjin	China	17.30	16.0	8.1%
10	Rotterdam	Netherlands	14.81	14.5	2.1%
11	Jebel Ali	UAE	14.14	15.0	-5.4%
12	Port Klang	Malaysia	13.58	12.3	10.2%
13	Antwerp	Belgium	11.86	11.1	6.8%
14	Xiamen	China	11.12	10.7	3.9%
15	Ho Chi Minh City/Cai Mep	Vietnam	10.92	6.3	72.5%
16	Kaohsiung	Taiwan	10.45	10.4	0.0%
17	Los Angeles	US	9.69	9.5	2.4%
18	Hamburg	Germany	9.28	8.8	5.8%
19	Tanjung Pelepas	Malaysia	9.08	9.0	1.3%
20	Dalian	China	8.76	9.8	-10.4%
21	Keihin ports	Japan	8.00	8.1	-1.7%
22	Laem Chabang	Thailand	7.98	8.1	-1.1%
23	Long Beach	US	7.63	8.1	-5.7%
24	New York and New Jersey	US	7.47	7.2	4.1%
25	Colombo	Sri Lanka	7.20	7.1	2.1%
26	Tanjung Priok	Indonesia	6.81	7.8	-12.7%
27	Suzhou	China	6.27	6.4	-1.4%
28	Piraeus	Greece	5.67	4.9	15.4%
29	Yingkou	China	5.47	6.5	-15.8%
30	Valencia	Spain	5.44	5.2	5.0%
31	Manila	Philippines	5.32	5.1	5.2%
32	Algeciras	Spain	5.13	4.8	7.4%
33	Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust	India	5.10	5.1	1.0%
34	Hai Phong	Vietnam	4.94	4.8	3.8%
35	Bremen/Bremerhaven	Germany	4.87	5.5	-11.1%
36	Tanger Med	Morocco	4.80	3.5	38.4%
37	Lianyungang	China	4.78	4.8	0.7%
38	Mundra	India	4.70	4.4	5.9%
39	Savannah	US	4.60	4.4	5.7%
40	Rizhao	China	4.50	4.0	12.5%
41	Foshan	China	4.44	4.0	11.0%
42	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	4.43	4.1	7.5%
43	Colon	Panama	4.38	4.3	1.4%
44	Santos	Brazil	4.17	4.1	1.1%
45	Salalah	Oman	4.11	3.4	21.2%
46	Tanjung Perak/Surabaya	Indonesia	4.04	3.9	4.7%
47	Dongguan/Humen	China	4.00	3.5	14.3%
48	Guangxi Beibu	China	3.82	2.9	32.6%
49	Felixstowe	UK	3.78	3.9	-1.9%
50	Northwest Seaport Alliance	US	3.78	3.8	-0.4%