In the first six months of the year, the overall container volume of major Chinese ports rose 4.8% compared with the same period in 2022, reaching approximately 150 million TEUs. This has provided considerable work for many, including customs brokers in Australia, to where a significant amount of cargo is shipped.
At the same time, the overall cargo volume of the Chinese ports was around 8.1 billion tonnes in the first half of 2023, translating to a decrease of 8% year-on-year.
The following table includes cargo and container throughput data for China’s twelve major ports:
The port of Shanghai has maintained its dominance, being the busiest container port in the country with 23.7 million TEUs. The port of Ningbo & Zhoushan is the second busiest box port in China with 17.7 million TEUs, and in the third place, we find the port of Qingdao with 14 million TEUs.
It is important to note that the largest percentage growths were registered at the ports of Yinkou, Dalian and Lianyungang. Yinkou reported year-on-year box growth of 26.8%, Dalian achieved a 20.8% container increase and Lianyungang saw its TEU volumes rise 15.4%.
On the other hand, Shenzhen was the only port that reported a year-on-year decline, handling 13.5 million TEUs, translating to a 6% drop.
