TOP 30 CONTAINER PORTS IN 2004

Chinese ports retain box throughput honours in 2004

Chinese ports, led by Hong Kong, have once again garnered the major throughput honours in the list of the world’s Top 30 container ports for the calendar year 2004.

While Hong Kong retained its top spot by handling an estimated 21,932,000 TEUs, the biggest single increment in TEU traffic was at Shanghai (third on the list), where nearly 3.3 million TEUs was added in 2004 .

Hong Kong’s nearby rival Shenzhen (no. 4), comprising Chiwan, Shekou and Yantian, too, continued to grow at a much faster pace, adding over 3 million TEUs last year.

And the distinction of achieving the largest percentage gain in 2004 went to yet another Chinese port, Ningbo (17), which achieved an astounding 44.5 per cent rise in TEU traffic.

Among the ports at the periphery of the top 30 is JNP, which registered a throughput of 2.361 million TEUs in 2004, a growth of 8.62 per cent compared to the previous year’s 2.174 million TEUs. With the Port projected to handle around 2.36 million TEUs for the fiscal 2004-05, it should be among the Top 30 in TEU volumes for the period.

Colombo, Salalah and Nagoya were three other container ports knocking at the Top 30 door.

TOP 30 CONTAINER PORTS IN 2004 (THROUGHPUTS IN TEU)

Rank 2004	20031	Port	2004 Total TEU	2003 Total TEU	% change	TEU change
1	1	Hong Kong	21,932,0002	20,449,000	7.3	1,483,000
2	2	Singapore	20,600,000	18,100,000	13.8	2,500,000
3	3	Shanghai	14,557,200	11,283,000	29.0	3,274,200
4	4	Shenzhen4	13,650,000	10,614,900	28.6	3,035,100
5	5	Busan	11,430,000	10,407,809	9.8	1,022,191
6	6	Kaohsiung	9,710,000	8,840,000	9.8	870,000
7	8	Rotterdam	8,300,000	7,106,779	16.8	1,193,221
8	7	Los Angeles	7,321,440	7,178,940	2.0	142,500
9	9	Hamburg	7,003,479	6,138,000	14.1	865,479
10	11	Dubai	6,428,883	5,151,958	24.8	1,276,925
11	10	Antwerp	6,063,746	5,445,436	11.4	618,310
12	13	Long Beach	5,779,852	4,658,124	24.1	1,121,728
13	12	Port Klang	5,243,593	4,840,000	8.3	403,593
14	14	Qingdao	5,139,700	4,239,000	21.2	900,700
15	15	New York/New Jersey	4,400,0003	4,067,812	8.2	332,188
16	16	Tanjung Pelepas	4,020,421	3,487,320	15.3	533,101
17	22	Ningbo	4,005,500	2,772,000	44.5	1,233,500
18	21	Tianjin	3,814,000	3,015,000	26.5	799,000
19	19	Laem Chabang	3,624,000	3,181,050	13.9	442,950
20	17	Tokyo	3,580,000	3,313,647	8.0	266,353
21	18	Bremen/Bremerhaven	3,469,104	3,189,853	8.8	279,251
22	23	Guangzhou	3,308,200	2,761,700	19.8	546,500
23	24	Tanjung Priok	3,248,149	2,757,513	17.8	490,636
24	20	Gioia Tauro	3,191,581	3,148,662	1.4	42,919
25	26	Algeciras	2,937,381	2,515,908	16.8	421,473
26	29	Xiamen	2,871,700	2,331,000	23.2	540,700
27	28	Felixstowe	2,700,0003	2,500,0003	8.0	200,000
28	25	Manila	2,629,3423	2,552,187	3.0	77,155
29	27	Yokohama	2,576,5223	2,504,628	2.9	71,894
30	39	Jeddah	2,425,930	1,777,165	36.5	648,765
Notes: 1 = 2003 ranking based on Container Traffic, ci-online; 2 = port’s estimate; 3 = CI estimate; 4 = includes Chiwan, Shekou and Yantian
Sources: Ports, CI Yearbook 2005 and ci-online