World’s top 5 container ports in Asia

As the Port of Shanghai moved into fifth last year, passing the Port of Rotterdam, the top 5 container ports in the world were filled by all Asian ports, including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Pusan, said an officer at the Port of Kaohsiung.

The officer quoted from the Containerisation International January issue that container ports were ranked Hong Kong, Singapore, Pusan, Kaohsiung and Shanghai in order. Last year Pusan nudged out Kaohsiung for third place while Shanghai overtook Rotterdam by a slim margin for fifth.

The officer analyzed that the economic downturn drove cargoes in Hong Kong and Singapore. Singapore was particularly hard hit by several shipping companies moving their hub port to the Port of Tanjung Pelepas.

However, Shanghai was bolstered by gradual growth in China, helping it to rank twentieth in 1995, sixth in 2000, and finally fifth in 2001.

An official at the Port of Shanghai said that port of Lyangsan with 5 container terminals is 12 to 15 meters deep and is expected to be the largest container port in the world. Currently the deepest container port is Kaohsiung, with depths between 13 and 15 meters.

Container cargoes last year from the world’s top six container terminals are as follows:
(1) Hong Kong (17.8 million TEU, 2% decrease)
(2) Singapore (17.04 million TEU, 10% decrease)
(3) Pusan (7.8 million TEU: growth rates not available)
(4) Kaohsiung (7.54 million TEU: 1.54% growth)
(5) Shanghai (6.3 million TEU: 15% increase)
(6) Rotterdam (6.2 million TEU: growth rates not available)