Largest Global Container Terminal Operators by Equity-Based Throughput, 2018-21

Largest Global Container Terminal Operators by Equity Based Throughput 2017

Note: Figures include all terminals in which 10% plus shareholdings were held. Figures do not include operations at common-user terminals. Note: China Merchants Port acquired a 28% stake in SIPG in 2022. COSCO acquired a 15% stake is SIPG in 2021. Source: Drewry, Annual Review of Global Container Terminal Operators.

Since terminal operators have various stakes depending on the concerned terminal, equity-based throughput is commonly used to measure the respective amount of containerized traffic they handle. For instance, two terminal operators may have respective stakes in a terminal of 75% and 25%. If that terminal handles 100,000 TEU per year, then 75,000 TEU will be attributed to one terminal operator and 25,000 TEU to the other.

By using such a measure, Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) is the world’s largest terminal operator, even if Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), Dubai Ports World (DPW), and A.P. Moller Group (APM) have respectively more terminals in their portfolio. Actually, PSA owns a 20% stake in HPH, which, from an equity-based throughput perspective, conveys traffic handled by another terminal operator. The five largest terminal operators are highly internationalized, with assets in several countries and regions of the world. However, the seventh largest, Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), is almost exclusively locally focused around the Shanghai area, where it handles substantial volumes.