Charted: The busiest ports in the world
The global economy is powered by maritime trade. It’s estimated that 80% of the world’s goods – food, raw materials, manufactured products, etc. – are transported by sea. Recent shocks to the global supply chain have highlighted the critical role shipping plays in getting goods to market. In this article, we use data from Lloyd’s List and Our World In Data to explore the world’s busiest container ports in 2022.
Calculating volume
Cargo volume is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units or TEU. A single TEU represents the volume of a standard twenty-foot-long shipping container. TEUs are crucial for assessing the efficiency and capacity of ports, as well as for calculating shipping costs and optimizing logistics operations. They provide a standardized way to compare and track cargo volumes across various shipping routes and vessels.
Chinese ports handle the most volume globally
China has emerged as a global leader, especially in terms of shipping volume. In 2021, Chinese ports handled 262,605,700 TEU, almost four times more than second-place United States and more than all of the other countries in the top 10 combined. Here’s a map of the top 100 busiest ports according to Lloyd’s List.
Shanghai is the busiest port in the world
Shanghai was the busiest port in the world in 2022, a position it has held since 2010. The Port of Shanghai handled more than 47 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2022, almost 10 million TEU more or approximately 25% more, than second-place.
The chart below shows a breakdown of the top 10 ports globally based on volume. The top ten features the same ports as 2021 with Chinese ports of Qingdao and Guangzhou swapping spots — Qingdao moves up to fifth while Guangzhou falls to sixth.
The top 100
Here’s a list of the 100 busiest ports in 2022. We learned some intriguing things we learned when we took a closer look at the list.
Asia dominates the list, claiming more than half the spots in the top 100. Europe is in second place.
China has the most ports in the top 100 with 24, including 7 in the top 10.
There is just one port outside of Asia in the top 10 and only six ports are outside of Asia among the top 25.
Los Angeles, the busiest port in the United States, had about 20% the volume as first place Shanghai.
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