How Asia rewrote the container port rankings in the 21st century
- China’s rise transformed the container port rankings, driving an unprecedented shift of cargo and capacity towards Asia
- Mega-vessels, carrier alliances and transhipment networks concentrated volumes among a handful of global hubs
- From the financial crisis and trade wars to the pandemic and the Red Sea crisis, successive shocks have repeatedly reshaped cargo flows and port fortunes
Twenty-five years of globalisation, consolidation and disruption have reshaped the world’s container port hierarchy. As cargo flows shifted east, transhipment hubs thrived and successive shocks exposed supply chain vulnerabilities, the winners and losers of maritime trade emerged in increasingly stark relief
