Vishwamitra Numbers
Issue #016
World ports handled approximately 920.3 million TEUs in 2024. The figure measures container-handling activity, not unique physical boxes, and transshipment means the same container can be counted at multiple ports.
By Santhosh Vishwamitra
In 2024, container ports worldwide handled approximately 920.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), according to UNCTAD's statistical compilation. Global container port throughput grew 6.9 percent from 2023, following growth of approximately 0.6 percent in each of the previous two years. Since 2014, the global total has increased by approximately 248 million TEUs, or 37 percent.
The number measures the work performed by the world's container ports. It does not tell us how many unique containers moved through international trade. That distinction changes how the headline figure should be interpreted.
What a TEU Actually Counts
A TEU is a twenty-foot equivalent unit. One standard 20-foot container represents 1 TEU, while one standard 40-foot container represents 2 TEUs. Port throughput statistics record container-handling activity, including loading, unloading and transshipment.
Consider a container transferred from a feeder vessel to a mainline vessel at a hub. The transfer contributes to the hub's throughput even if the cargo never enters the local economy. When the container is subsequently handled at another port, that port records its own handling activity.
This is why global TEU throughput cannot be interpreted as a count of unique boxes or unique cargo shipments. It measures activity across a network of ports, including intermediate transfers. The distinction is fundamental: a busy port network can generate a large throughput total without an equivalent number of separate physical containers.
The Global-to-Major-Port Ladder
Shanghai led the world in 2024 with approximately 51.506 million TEUs, commonly rounded to 51.51 million, according to official port reporting. Singapore handled 41.12 million TEUs, crossing the 40-million mark for the first time. Ningbo-Zhoushan handled approximately 39.3 million TEUs in 2024.
For 2025, Lloyd's List's 2026 ranking reported that the world's top 100 container ports collectively handled 792.2 million TEUs, up 6.3 percent year on year. Asia accounted for almost 68 percent of the combined throughput of these ranked ports, while Chinese ports accounted for more than 40 percent.
These figures describe the ports included in Lloyd's List's ranking. They are not a replacement for UNCTAD's global statistical series, which has a different scope and reporting methodology. The 792.2 million TEUs recorded for the ranked ports should therefore not be directly equated with the 920.3 million TEUs reported for worldwide throughput in 2024.
Individual port rankings and throughput estimates should be read in the context of each source's methodology and reporting period. Rankings can differ when adjacent terminals or port complexes are grouped differently, and an industry estimate is not automatically interchangeable with a consolidated official dataset.
India's twelve Major Ports handled approximately 13.541 million TEUs in fiscal year 2024-25, according to official port-sector reporting. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) handled approximately 7.302 million TEUs, or about 53.9 percent of the twelve Major Ports' combined container throughput.
JNPA's 7.302 million TEUs were equivalent to approximately 14.2 percent of Shanghai's 51.506 million TEUs in 2024. Both comparisons are useful for understanding scale, but the reporting periods do not align perfectly: India's figure covers April 2024 to March 2025, while Shanghai's covers the calendar year 2024.
Transshipment and the Double-Counting Reality
Approximately 90 percent of Singapore's container throughput is associated with transshipment, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. In transshipment, containers arrive on one vessel and depart on another, often continuing toward a destination beyond Singapore.
The cargo may never enter Singapore's domestic economy, but the handling activity still counts. The same physical container can therefore contribute to throughput at multiple ports during a single journey.
This is not a flaw in the statistics. It is a feature of what the measure is designed to capture. Throughput describes port activity and network organisation; it does not measure unique cargo movements on a one-for-one basis.
That distinction also matters when shipping routes are disrupted. Rerouting, changes in vessel schedules and shifts between transshipment hubs can alter port volumes even when underlying consumer demand has not changed by the same amount. Throughput is therefore a useful indicator of activity, but it needs context before it can be used to infer demand or network stress.
Concentration and Chokepoint Exposure
Asia's dominance is visible in the top-port rankings. Lloyd's List reported that Asian ports accounted for almost 68 percent of the top 100 ports' combined throughput in 2025, with Chinese ports contributing more than 40 percent of that total.
Concentration creates exposure, but it does not automatically prove fragility. Major hubs may have extensive infrastructure, high capacity and multiple shipping connections. The risk emerges when heavy traffic concentration overlaps with limited alternatives, weather disruption or a maritime chokepoint that carriers cannot readily avoid.
Jebel Ali in Dubai illustrates the potential scale of disruption. DP World's first-half 2026 results reported that the port handled approximately 3.1 million TEUs in the first six months of 2026, down about 59.5 percent year on year. Second-quarter throughput fell approximately 90.1 percent compared with the same period in 2025, to about 374,000 TEUs.
The decline coincided with severe disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Industry reporting placed Jebel Ali at 32nd in Alphaliner's first-half 2026 ranking, down from tenth at the end of 2025. The throughput figures come from DP World's reporting, while the ranking is an industry assessment; the two measures should not be treated as the same type of evidence.
The episode demonstrates how quickly a port's position can change when shipping access and carrier networks are disrupted. It does not, by itself, establish how permanent the change will be. That depends on the duration of the disruption, carrier decisions, alternative routes and the recovery of regional trade.
Port Congestion: A Dated Operational Snapshot
In late August 2026, Linerlytica reported that approximately 4.31 million TEUs of container capacity were waiting to berth at ports worldwide. The figure exceeded the previous absolute peak of approximately 4.0 million TEUs reported during the 2022 congestion period.
The comparison needs a denominator. Based on the reported figures, 4.31 million TEUs represented approximately 12.5 percent of a global container fleet of 34.4 million TEUs. The 2022 comparison was approximately 15.8 percent, using a reported fleet capacity of 25.3 million TEUs and congestion of about 4.0 million TEUs.
These percentages are approximate calculations using rounded source figures. The published estimates may differ slightly because the underlying capacity and congestion numbers are rounded. The broad comparison remains: the late-August 2026 estimate represented a larger absolute amount of capacity waiting to berth, but a smaller share of the larger global fleet than the 2022 peak.
Reports attributed the late-August congestion increase largely to delays in East Asia, including disruption caused by storms. This is a dated snapshot from late August 2026, not a verified measurement of conditions in mid-October. A current operational claim requires a newer, dated source.
The practical point is that congestion is best interpreted using both absolute volume and fleet-wide share. Either measure alone can give an incomplete picture of how much capacity is being delayed and how consequential those delays are for shipping networks.
What Most Coverage Misses
Three recurring mistakes can make port rankings less useful than they appear.
- Treating TEUs as individual physical containers. A 40-foot container represents two TEUs, so 920 million TEUs does not mean 920 million unique containers.
- Equating throughput with unique cargo movement. Transshipment and repeated handling across ports mean the measures are different.
- Equating the busiest port with the best-performing port. Volume rankings measure throughput, while performance benchmarks may assess vessel time, reliability, connectivity or other operational criteria.
Rankings can also differ around the margins when adjacent terminals are combined or separate port complexes are counted independently. Such differences should be assessed through the methodology and coverage of each dataset, rather than automatically treated as factual contradictions.
UNCTAD's 2024 figure is a global benchmark for that reporting year, not a forecast of future growth. Annual throughput reflects trade conditions, transshipment patterns, shipping schedules and disruptions that can change from one year to the next.
Vishwamitra Verdict
The approximately 920.3 million TEU figure for 2024 is supported by UNCTAD's statistical compilation. Shanghai and Singapore illustrate the scale reached by leading ports, while India's Major Ports and JNPA figures offer a useful comparison across different reporting periods.
The number is most valuable when its limits are understood. TEUs count equivalent container capacity handled by ports, not unique physical boxes. Transshipment makes port throughput a measure of network activity rather than a direct count of distinct cargo journeys.
Asia's large share of ranked-port throughput and the disruption affecting Jebel Ali show why geography and shipping access matter. But rankings alone cannot establish efficiency, and a single congestion record cannot describe conditions indefinitely. Good analysis depends on the measurement, the date, the source and the question being asked.
The headline is large. The more useful insight is what sits behind it: a global system in which the movement of containers is measured through handling events, concentrated port networks and routes whose reliability can change quickly.
Santhosh Vishwamitra
Vishwamitra Chronicles
Sources
- UNCTADstat, container port throughput statistical compilation: UNCTADstat container throughput insight
- Shanghai port reporting, 2024 throughput: Shanghai's 2024 container throughput
- Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, “Strong growth momentum for Maritime Singapore,” 15 January 2025: Singapore maritime performance
- State Council of the People's Republic of China, Ningbo-Zhoushan port statistics: Ningbo-Zhoushan 2024 throughput
- Lloyd's List, One Hundred Container Ports 2026: 2025 top-100 port throughput ranking
- Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, Operating Performance Profile: JNPA container traffic data
- Press Information Bureau, Government of India, port-sector performance in FY 2024-25: Official Indian port-sector figures
- DP World, first-half 2026 results: DP World H1 2026 results
- FreightWaves, reporting on global port rankings and geopolitical disruption: Port rankings and disruption analysis
- Port Technology, global port congestion reporting, late August 2026: Reported 4.3-million-TEU congestion snapshot
- World Ports, global container fleet and congestion reporting: Congestion as a share of fleet capacity
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