Container traffic is counted in twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEU — the size of a standard shipping box. By that measure the world’s busiest ports are overwhelmingly Asian, according to the annual ranking of Lloyd’s List.
49.2mTEU through Shanghai in 2023, the most of any port
Six of the top eight are in mainland China. Singapore, second, is the busiest transhipment hub, where boxes change ships rather than leave the port.
