The Busiest Container Ports of 2017

Shipping reports are in and consultancy service Alphaliner has reported the busiest ports of 2017. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Shanghai once against takes the crown as busiest container port. The last time a different port took the lead was Singapore in 2009. The full picture of East Asian shipping is revealed in many details and trends of 2017 shipping volumes.

Shipping Reports Reveal the Shape of East Asia

What does come as a bit of a surprise is the sheer extent of Shanghai’s growth. It shipped 40.2 million TEUs last year, up 8.3% over the previous year’s 37.1. Many other Chinese ports grew with similarly remarkably strong increases.

The busiest port to suffer a decrease in shipping volume was Port Klang, Malaysia, which went from 13.2 million TEUs in 2016 to 12.1 million in 2017. Much of this is due to the shuffling of major shipping companies’ operations from Port Klang to Singapore. The largest impact is on Port Klang’s transshipment volumes, cargo that’s transferred at a port to continue on to another port. Much of this business has gone to Singapore.

This has helped Singapore continue growing, once against repeating as the second busiest container port in the world. It also helped return Singapore’s shipping levels nearly to its port-record 2014 volumes. Singapore’s second place finish was still far behind Shanghai, at 33.7 million TEUs.

The Changing Face of East Asian Shipping

Meanwhile, Malaysia has found itself entering into infrastructure agreements with China in order to boost its maritime shipping presence and develop the infrastructure which will let it more capably transfer from ship to road and rail.

Information about U.S. ports is still coming in, but growth looks steady if somewhat weak.

For the second year in a row, the South Korean Port of Busan finishes in the top 5. Once again, the Port of Busan has bumped Hong Kong into 6th place.

The most remarkable rates of growth over the past decade belong to Chinese ports like Ningbo-Zhoushan, Guangzhou, and Qingdao. Each shipped in the low 9-millions of TEUs in 2007, and ship between 18 and 24 million TEUs today, with Ningbo-Zhoushan being the most successful. In all, China has seven of the top 10 busiest container ports in the world.

Beside Port Klang, another port who saw its 2017 shipping volumes fall was Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as it sustains increased pressure from China, wavering allies, and increased competitiveness across East Asia.