Shanghai Still Top Container Port

SinoShip News reports that Shanghai remains the world’s busiest container port, keeping ahead of Singapore for the last four years. Shanghai handled 33.6m teu last year, a growth of 3.3 per cent, leading Singapore by around one million teu.

The value of the annual import and export trade through Shanghai accounts for a quarter of China’s total foreign trade. The port’s container throughput in 2010 reached 29.069 million teu. Container liner services from the Port of Shanghai cover all major ports around the world. More than 2,000 container ships depart from the port every month.

Chineseshipping Net, sponsored by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, has indicated that 2014 is expected to set a new record in container ship deliveries with 1.6 million TEU of new capacity due for delivery. Many carriers including Evergreen, Maersk, China Shipping and Hamburg Sued are anticipated to bring new vessels into operation increasing capacity by over one million teu. For example, Evergreen has 18 new ships of 8,000-14,000 teu due to be delivered, for a total capacity of 195,000 TEU. MSC has increased capacity by 146,700 teu, about seven per cent, in the last 12 months.