WORLD MAP WITH MAJOR PORTS FULL

There are currently two answers to a Quora question about coconuts, with one estimate two times as big as another.

A larger ship class, the Post-Panamax, can fit through the Panama Canal expansion, and holds 10,000-15,500 TEUs.Īs for how much fits in a single container, that also depends on what you’re transporting, and how well you store it. A common class of container ship, the Panamax, is so-named because it’s the largest ship that can fit through the original Panama Canal. How many containers can fit on a ship depends, obviously, on the size of the ship. However, if we go with the most popular 20 feet by 8.5 feet, we end up with 1,360 cubic feet (strangely, for all the other variations, most shipping containers are eight feet wide). These factors complicate how much can fit in a single container, as well as how many containers fit on a ship. Others are 45 feet long, and they are still counted as only two TEUs rather than 2.25 TEUs. Remember when I said most are 20 feet long? Well, some are 40 feet long, so these are counted as two TEUs. Rarely there are some half-height containers that are four feet three inches tall. Most are eight and a half feet tall, though others are nine and a half feet. Most are 20 feet long, which is where that name comes from, but the height varies. And for that matter, how many of these TEUs fit on a single ship?ĭespite the official-sounding name, TEU, there actually isn’t a standard size for a shipping container. With all this talk about containers and the twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), it can be tough to picture exactly how much fits in a container. In the case of Japan’s four top port cities, only Nagoya has seen growth. Rounding out the top five are Vietnam (60%), Morocco (44%), Saudi Arabia (41%), and Brazil (39%).Ī few of these countries with ports in the top 50 have seen negative growth in the last five years: Egypt (-17%), Hong Kong (-15%), and Japan (-3%). Other fast-growing countries didn’t even double. That puts Greece at over 400% growth, quintupling container volume in five years. Greece, whose port city of Piraeus only saw 665,000 containers in 2010 was nearing 3.4 million in 2015, the latest data available. The overall Chinese growth rate over the last five years is only 34%, so on the short term there are smaller players that have gained ground faster. Rounding out the top five are the United States, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. In fact, the country tally amongst these top 50 ports puts China at nearly five times the container volume of the next-most, Singapore. Indeed, China is seeing a lot of growth despite already being a stronghold of busy ports. Other ports that have at least doubled in the last 10 years are Balboa, Panama (364%) Guangzhou (265%) Dalian, China (260%) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (209%) Tianjin (189%) Xiamen, China (176%) Qingdao (175%) Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates (129%) Port Klang, Malaysia (114%) Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia (111%) and Dubai (105%). It has moved up the list by seeing its volume nearly quadruple during that short time. Ningbo-Zhoushan, another China powerhouse, was #15 on the list a decade ago. By comparison, Singapore and Shenzhen have seen 33% and 49% growth respectively. In the last 10 years, Shanghai container ship traffic has more than doubled, a considerable feat for a city already high on the list. While others in the top 10 have seen tremendous growth, Hong Kong actually has seen less traffic in its port over the recent years. As recently as 2004, Hong Kong was the busiest container port in the world. Officially, Hong Kong is an administrative region of China, after being transferred from British rule in 1997, though Hong Kong operates with a high degree of autonomy. The other non-Chinese ports in the top 10 are Hong Kong (5) Busan, South Korea (6), and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (9). China’s other cities in the top 10 are Shenzhen (3), Ningbo-Zhoushan (4), Qingdao (7), Guangzhou (8), and Tianjin (10). China’s largest city has been top since 2010, when it surpassed Singapore (now number two). Shanghai is number one, by over 5 million containers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, six of the top 10 ports are in China. A TEU is the equivalent of a single shipping container, the metal structures stacked on large ships and shuttled across the oceans. What does busy mean? It’s measured by thousands of “TEUs,” twenty-foot equivalent units.

On the map above, you can find the 50 busiest ports in the world across 30 countries.

WORLD MAP WITH MAJOR PORTS FULL

View Busiest Container Ports in the World in a full screen map In fact, an entire industry is named after it: shipping. Yet, another type of ship continues to rule the sea. These days, cruises take those who can afford the luxury on purposefully slow-paced journeys. Then ships became the primary method of long distance transportation, and remained that way for centuries. In the days of world exploration, ships were the way to we discovered new land, new routes, and anything new.

World map with major ports