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Port of Shanghai or Port of Singapore? Top 10 Busiest Container Ports
Top 10 Busiest Container Ports in the World (2026): picked and ranked by our editors, and open to your votes. How we ranked this: Ports are ranked in descending order according to certified annual container throughput measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) documented by municipal port authorities and the World Shipping Council. The ranking evaluates total full and empty container throughput across all commercial terminals within each respective port jurisdiction, excluding inland waterway river barges. Top10Grid checked every figure and name against the pages cited for each entry and removed anything those pages did not support. Sources: en.wikipedia.org. — Top10Grid Business Desk · Reviewed by Max Rankin
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The Port of Shanghai in China is the busiest container port in the world, processing over 49 million TEUs annually across Yangtze River and offshore deepwater terminals. Located at the mouth of the Yangtze River facing the East China Sea, the Port of Shanghai has stood as the busiest container port in the world continuously since surpassing Singapore in 2010. Operated by the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), the port comprises multiple riverine and coastal terminal complexes, anchored by the Yangshan Deep-Water Port.
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Positioned strategically along the narrow waterway connecting the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, the Port of Singapore is the second-busiest container port globally and the world's largest container transshipment hub. Primary operations are managed by PSA International across terminals at Tanjong Pagar, Keppel, Brani, and Pasir Panjang, alongside industrial quays at Jurong Port. The Port of Singapore also operates as the world's premier marine refueling and bunkering center, delivering over 50 million metric tons of marine fuel annually.
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Formed in 2006 by the administrative merger of the municipal ports of Ningbo and the Zhoushan archipelago in Zhejiang province, the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan is the third-busiest container port in the world. The port is operated by Ningbo Zhoushan Port Co., Ltd. It is the busiest port in the world by cargo tonnage.
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The port connects to around 130 international container shipping routes, with around 40 shipping lines running scheduled weekly services to Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia. The Shekou container port is part of the large port complex of Shenzhen. There are also buses travelling from the terminal to the Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport.
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The Port of Qingdao is a seaport on the Yellow Sea in the vicinity of Qingdao, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. It was located around Jiaozhou Bay, where the village of Qingdao developed into a major seaport. In 2011, the port signed a strategic alliance with the largest port of the Republic of Korea.
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The Busan Port Authority is the governing body of the South Korean port of Busan. Easy access to the port of Busan between Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong contributes to its vast growth. During the Japanese rule, Busan developed into a hub trading port with Japan.
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The port was converted into the Tianjin Port Holdings Company in 1996. It was listed in the Shanghai stock market that same year. The facility has six main anchorage areas and two temporary anchorages. A large industrial-scale accident adversely affected the port in 2015.
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The port is operated by Guangzhou Port Group Co. It serves as the biggest comprehensive hub port in South China. The harbor area extends along the Pearl River coast. This coverage includes water areas in Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai.
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The port is located 35 km southwest of Dubai in the Persian Gulf. The facility encompasses over one million square metres of container yard. It also consists of 960 thousand square metres of open storage.
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The port previously held the title of the world's busiest container port for multiple periods between 1987 and 2004 before throughput growth in mainland Chinese ports redistributed regional freight traffic. Operations center on Kwai Tsing Container Terminals, which comprise 9 terminals with 18 berths across 279 hectares of reclaimed land, operated by private consortiums including Modern Terminals and Hongkong International Terminals (HIT).
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