China dominated the ranking of the world's busiest container ports in 2025, securing six of the top eight spots worldwide, according to data compiled by Visual Capitalist based on Lloyd's List 2026 rankings and reported by WION.
Shanghai retained its position as the world's busiest container port for the 16th consecutive year, handling approximately 55.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The source reported that Shanghai's volume exceeded second-placed Singapore's 44.7 million TEUs by more than 10 million TEUs and stood at more than five times the throughput of Los Angeles. China's Ningbo-Zhoushan followed closely in third place with 43.9 million TEUs, while Shenzhen and Qingdao took fourth and fifth places with 35.4 million TEUs and 32.9 million TEUs, respectively.
Guangzhou took sixth place with 28.1 million TEUs, followed by South Korea's Busan in seventh with 24.9 million TEUs and China's Tianjin in eighth with 24.0 million TEUs. Busan stood as the only port in the top eight situated outside China or Singapore.
Dubai in the United Arab Emirates ranked ninth globally, handling roughly 15.55 million TEUs (reported as 15.6 million TEUs). WION highlighted that Dubai is the Middle East's largest container hub and the only port in the global top 10 located outside East and Southeast Asia, functioning as a pivotal intercontinental cargo transit hub between Asian factories and markets across Europe, Africa, and the Gulf.
Malaysia's Port Klang completed the global top 10 with 15.1 million TEUs, finishing slightly ahead of Malaysia's Port of Johor at 15.11 million TEUs in 11th place.
Sources
- WION · 2026-10-20
