World's busiest port

Categories: Ports and harbours

The world's busiest port is contested by several ports around the world, as there is as yet no standardised means of evaluating port performance and traffic. Most keenly fought over this is between the Port of Rotterdam and the Port of Singapore, the former of which based its measurement on cargo tonnage handled (total weight of goods loaded and discharged), while the later ranks in terms of shipping tonnage handled (total volume of ships handled).

Contents 1 By total cargo tonnage 1.1 2004 (preliminary) 1.2 2003 1.3 2002 2 By total shipping tonnage 2.1 2004 3 By container traffic 3.1 2004 (preliminary) 3.2 2003 3.3 2002 4 References 5 See also

By total cargo tonnage

2004 (preliminary)

Rank	Port	Country	Measure	Tons(000s)	+/- from 2003	% change from 2003
1	Singapore	Singapore	FT	393,418	45,724	13.15
2	Shanghai	People's Republic of China	MT	379,000	62,790	19.86
3	Rotterdam	Netherlands	MT	352,360	24,215	7.38
4	Hong Kong	People's Republic of China	MT	220,879	13,267	6.39
5	Nagoya	Japan	FT	182,289	10,250	5.96
6	Antwerp	Belgium	MT	152,327	9,452	6.62

2003

Rank	Port	Country	Measure	Tons(000s)	+/- from 2002	% change from 2002
1	Singapore	Singapore	FT	347,694	12,538	3.74
2	Rotterdam	Netherlands	MT	326,958	5,107	1.59
3	Shanghai	People's Republic of China	MT	316,210	77,604	32.52
4	Hong Kong	People's Republic of China	MT	207,612	15,102	7.84
5	South Louisiana	United States	MT	180,493	-15,952	-8.12
6	Houston	United States	MT	173,320	12,130	7.52
7	Chiba	Japan	FT	169,000	10,071	6.34
8	Nagoya	Japan	FT	168,378	10,358	6.55
9	Guangzhou	People's Republic of China	MT	167,720	27,325	19.46
10	Gwangyang	South Korea	RT	165,089	11,642	7.59
11	Busan	South Korea	RT	162,460	18,688	13.00
12	Tianjin	People's Republic of China	MT	161,820	32,820	25.44
13	Ningbo	People's Republic of China	MT	153,980	3,980	2.65
14	Ulsan	South Korea	RT	146,940	-1,472	-0.99
15	Antwerp	Belgium	MT	142,875	11,246	8.54
16	Qingdao	People's Republic of China	MT	140,900	20,900	17.42
17	Kaohsiung	Taiwan (Republic of China)	MT	138,832	9,418	7.28
18	New York/New Jersey	United States	MT	132,438	10,335	8.46
19	Incheon	South Korea	RT	131,018	-15,163	-10.37
20	Dalian	People's Republic of China	MT	126,020	18,482	17.19
21	Yokohama	Japan	FT	125,943	7,871	6.67
22	Qinhuangdao	People's Republic of China	MT	125,620	4,468	3.69
23	Hamburg	Germany	MT	106,536	8,264	8.41
24	Marseilles	France	MT	95,545	3,284	3.56
25	Port Hedland	Australia	MT	89,799	8,041	9.84
26	Osaka	Japan	FT	89,687	3,188	3.69
27	Kitakyushu	Japan	FT	88,890	4,641	5.51
28	Klang	Malaysia	FT	88,888	6,617	8.04
29	Dampier	Australia	MT	88,880	-3,348	-3.63
30	Tokyo	Japan	FT	88,475	5,530	6.67
31	Shenzhen	People's Republic of China	MT	87,670	11,788	15.53
32	Richards Bay	South Africa	HT	87,521	6,012	7.38
33	Newcastle	Australia	MT	82,712	5,825	7.58
34	Beaumont	United States	MT	79,470	1,480	1.90
35	Kobe	Japan	FT	78,759	158	0.20
36	Tubarão	Brazil	MT	77,621	1,756	2.31
37	Hay Point	Australia	MT	77,546	2,874	3.85
38	New Orleans	United States	MT	76,116	-1,047	-1.36
39	Le Havre	France	MT	71,493	3,795	5.61
40	Huntington	United States	MT	70,483	-3,107	-4.22
41	Corpus Christi	United States	MT	70,105	4,743	7.26
42	Itaqui	Brazil	MT	67,591	2,649	4.08
43	Vancouver	Canada	MT	66,727	3,926	6.25
44	Amsterdam	Netherlands	MT	65,461	-4,956	-7.04
45	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	MT	63,626
46	Long Beach	United States	MT	62,816	1,201	1.95
47	Santos	Brazil	MT	60,077	6,603	12.35
48	Gladstone	Australia	MT	59,661	5,195	9.54
49	Algeciras	Spain	MT	56,682
50	Grimsby & Immingham	United Kingdom	MT	55,931

2002

Rank	Port	Country	Measure	Tons(000s)
1	Singapore	Singapore	MT	335,156
2	Rotterdam	Netherlands	MT	321,851
3	Shanghai	People's Republic of China	MT	238,606
4	South Louisiana	United States	MT	196,445
5	Hong Kong	People's Republic of China	MT	192,510
6	Houston	United States	MT	161,190
7	Chiba	Japan	FT	158,929
8	Nagoya	Japan	FT	158,020
9	Gwangyang	South Korea	RT	153,447
10	Ningbo	People's Republic of China	MT	150,000
11	Ulsan	South Korea	RT	148,412
12	Incheon	South Korea	RT	146,181
13	Busan	South Korea	RT	143,772
14	Guangzhou	People's Republic of China	MT	140,395
15	Antwerp	Belgium	MT	131,629
16	Kaohsiung	Taiwan (Republic of China)	MT	129,414
17	Tianjin	People's Republic of China	MT	129,000
18	New York/New Jersey	United States	MT	122,103
19	Qinhuangdao	People's Republic of China	MT	121,152
20	Qingdao	People's Republic of China	MT	120,000
21	Yokohama	Japan	FT	118,072
22	Dalian	People's Republic of China	MT	107,538
23	Hamburg	Germany	MT	98,272
24	Marseilles	France	MT	92,261
25	Dampier	Australia	MT	92,228
26	Osaka	Japan	FT	86,499
27	Kitakyushu	Japan	FT	84,249
28	Tokyo	Japan	FT	82,945
29	Klang	Malaysia	FT	82,271
30	Port Hedland	Australia	MT	81,758
31	Richards Bay	South Africa	MT	81,509
32	Kobe	Japan	FT	78,601
33	Beaumont	United States	MT	77,990
34	New Orleans	United States	MT	77,163
35	Newcastle	Australia	MT	76,887
36	Shenzhen	People's Republic of China	MT	75,882
37	Tubarão	Brazil	MT	75,865
38	Hay Point	Australia	MT	74,672
39	Huntington	United States	MT	73,590
40	Amsterdam	Netherlands	MT	70,417
41	Le Havre	France	MT	67,698
42	Corpus Christi	United States	MT	65,362
43	Itaqui	Brazil	MT	64,942
44	Novorossiysk	Russia	MT	63,291
45	Vancouver	Canada	MT	62,801
46	Long Beach	United States	MT	61,615
47	Baton Rouge	United States	MT	54,997
48	Gladstone	Australia	MT	54,466
49	Plaquemine	United States	MT	53,661
50	Santos	Brazil	MT	53,474

Note: MT=Metric Tons; HT= Harbor Tons; FT=Freight Tons; RT = Revenue Tons

By total shipping tonnage

2004

Rank	Port	Country	Gross tons
1	Singapore	Singapore	1.04 billion

By container traffic

2004 (preliminary)

Rank	Port	Country	TEUs(000s)	+/- from 2003	% change from 2003
1	Hong Kong	People's Republic of China	21,930	1,431	6.98
2	Singapore	Singapore	21,300	2,889	15.69
3	Shanghai	People's Republic of China	14,554	3,274	29.02
4	Shenzhen	People's Republic of China	13,660	3,045	28.69
5	Busan	South Korea	11,500	1,092	10.49
6	Kaohsiung	Taiwan (Republic of China)
7	Rotterdam	Netherlands	8,300	1,193	16.79
8	Los Angeles	United States
9	Hamburg	Germany
10	Dubai	United Arab Emirates
11	Antwerp	Belgium	6,060	615	11.29
12	Long Beach	United States
13	Klang	Malaysia
14	Qingdao	People's Republic of China
15	New York/New Jersey	United States
16	Tanjung Pelepas	Malaysia	4,020	533	15.29

2003

Rank	Port	Country	TEUs(000s)	+/- from 2002	% change from 2002
1	Hong Kong	People's Republic of China	20,499	1,355	7.08
2	Singapore	Singapore	18,411	1,470	8.68
3	Shanghai	People's Republic of China	11,280	2,660	30.86
4	Shenzhen	People's Republic of China	10,615	3,001	39.41
5	Busan	South Korea	10,408	972	10.30
6	Kaohsiung	Taiwan (Republic of China)	8,843	350	4.12
7	Los Angeles	United States	7,149	1,043	17.08
8	Rotterdam	Netherlands	7,107	592	9.09
9	Hamburg	Germany	6,138	764	14.22
10	Antwerp	Belgium	5,445	668	13.98
11	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	5,152	958	22.84
12	Klang	Malaysia	4,840	307	6.77
13	Long Beach	United States	4,658	134	2.96
14	Qingdao	People's Republic of China	4,239	829	24.31
15	New York/New Jersey	United States	4,068	319	8.51
16	Tanjung Pelepas	Malaysia	3,487	827	31.09
17	Tokyo	Japan	3,314	602	22.20
18	Bremen/Bremerhaven	Germany	3,190	158	5.21
19	Laem Chabang	Thailand	3,181	524	19.72
20	Gioia Tauro	Italy	3,149	195	6.60
21	Tianjin	People's Republic of China	3,015	605	25.10
22	Ningbo	People's Republic of China	2,772	912	49.03
23	Guangzhou	People's Republic of China	2,762	582	26.70
24	Tanjung Priok	Indonesia	2,758	78	2.91
25	Manila	Philippines	2,552	90	3.66
26	Algeciras	Spain	2,516	282	12.62
27	Yokohama	Japan	2,505	140	5.92
28	Felixstowe	United Kingdom	2,500	-250	-9.09
29	Xiamen	People's Republic of China	2,331	581	33.20
30	Nhava Sheva	India	2,269
31	Nagoya	Japan	2,074	147	7.63
32	Kobe	Japan	2,046	53	2.66
33	Keelung	Taiwan (Republic of China)	2,001	82	4.27
34	Salalah	Oman	2,000
35	Valencia	Spain	1,993	172	9.45
36	Le Havre	France	1,977	257	14.94
37	Colombo	Sri Lanka	1,959	194	10.99
38	Oakland	United States	1,923	215	12.59
39	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	1,777	410	29.99
40	Tacoma	United States	1,738	267	18.15
41	Melbourne	Australia	1,721	121	7.56
42	Charleston	United States	1,691	98	6.15
43	Dalian	People's Republic of China	1,670
44	San Juan	United States	1,666
45	Barcelona	Spain	1,652	191	13.07
46	Hampton Roads	United States	1,646	208	14.46
47	Osaka	Japan	1,610	95	6.27
48	Genoa	Italy	1,606	75	4.90
49	Piraeus	Greece	1,605	200	14.23
50	Tanjung Perak	Indonesia	1,575	157	11.07

2002

Rank	Port	Country	TEUs(000s)
1	Hong Kong	People's Republic of China	19,144
2	Singapore	Singapore	16,941
3	Busan	South Korea	9,436
4	Shanghai	People's Republic of China	8,620
5	Kaohsiung	Taiwan (Republic of China)	8,493
6	Shenzhen	People's Republic of China	7,614
7	Rotterdam	Netherlands	6,515
8	Los Angeles	United States	6,106
9	Hamburg	Germany	5,374
10	Antwerp	Belgium	4,777
11	Klang	Malaysia	4,533
12	Long Beach	United States	4,524
13	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	4,194
14	Yantian	People's Republic of China	4,181
15	New York/New Jersey	United States	3,749
16	Qingdao	People's Republic of China	3,410
17	Bremen/Bremerhaven	Germany	3,032
18	Gioia Tauro	Italy	2,954
19	Felixstowe	United Kingdom	2,750
20	Tokyo	Japan	2,712
21	Tanjung Priok	Indonesia	2,680
22	Tanjung Pelepas	Malaysia	2,660
23	Laem Chabang	Thailand	2,657
24	Manila	Philippines	2,462
25	Tianjin	People's Republic of China	2,410
26	Yokohama	Japan	2,365
27	Algeciras	Spain	2,234
28	Guangzhou	People's Republic of China	2,180
29	Kobe	Japan	1,993
30	Jawarlal Nehru	India	1,967
31	Nagoya	Japan	1,927
32	Keelung	Taiwan (Republic of China)	1,919
33	Ningbo	People's Republic of China	1,860
34	Valencia	Spain	1,821
35	Colombo	Sri Lanka	1,765
36	Xiamen	People's Republic of China	1,750
37	Le Havre	France	1,720
38	Oakland	United States	1,708
39	Melbourne	Australia	1,600
40	Charleston	United States	1,593
41	Genoa	Italy	1,531
42	Osaka	Japan	1,515
43	Tacoma	United States	1,471
44	Barcelona	Spain	1,461
45	Vancouver	Canada	1,458
46	Seattle	United States	1,439
47	Hampton Roads	United States	1,438
48	Tanjung Perak	Indonesia	1,418
49	Piraeus	Greece	1,405
50	Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	1,367

Note: Yantian is a container terminal in Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.

References

• AAPA World Port Rankings 2003
• AAPA World Port Rankings 2002

See also

• List of seaports