AND THE WINNER IS… SHANGHAI

The Chinese port of Shanghai, with a throughput of 35.29 million teu, took the crown in 2014 as the world’s busiest container port for the fifth year in succession. Last year’s box volumes were 4.5% higher than the 33.77 million teu recorded in 2013. Shanghai overtook Singapore in terms of container throughput in 2010. The Lion State has yet to release its full year figures for 2014. In comparison, Australia’s box trade has been increasing month-by-month. Container trade in Australasia and Oceania in 2014 grew from the previous year by an average of 1617 teu per month, according to data from Container Trade Statistics (CTS).

The region’s combined import and export trade in November 2014 (the last month for which data is available) was up 3.54% to 567,500 teu this year from 548,100 teu in November 2013. November’s Australia/Oceania figures in 2014 represented 5.18% of global box trade that month. Australasia and Oceania have largely exported greater volumes compared to volumes from the previous year on a month-by-month basis, with volumes increasing by 600 teu per month on average since November 2013. Exports from the region reached 220,300 teu in November 2014, 2% of total global exports, and were up 3.38% from the same period the previous year. January 2014 saw the biggest change year-on-year, up 12.82%, and March 2014 saw 327,700 teu exported, the greatest volume per month from January to November. Import volumes for the region have also been trending up, with total box imports reaching 347,000 teu in November 2014, 3.17% of the worldwide trade.