FORECASTS of a sharp slowdown in global container port volumes proved wide of the mark in 2025. Twelve months ago, the prevailing expectation was that front-loading ahead of higher US tariffs would leave the industry facing a difficult second half of the year, with inventory corrections and weaker consumer demand exposing the fragility of post-pandemic trade growth.

Instead, the Lloyd’s List Top 100 rankings suggest something quite different. The world’s largest ports handled a combined 792.2m teu, up 6.3% year on year, extending rather than reversing the growth seen in 2024. Far from triggering a broad-based downturn, tariffs, supply chain diversification and geopolitical disruption helped reshape global cargo flows in ways that generated additional port activity.

What stands out from the rankings is how little the container sector now conforms to traditional economic assumptions. Growth was achieved despite sluggish manufacturing activity in many developed economies, weak consumer confidence across parts of Europe, uncertainty regarding US trade policy and the continued disruption created by the Red Sea crisis. Yet containers continued moving because supply chains continued adapting.

The industry’s response to successive shocks over the past decade, from the initial US-China trade war and the pandemic to Red Sea diversions and alliance restructuring, has been to build greater resilience through diversification. Rather than concentrating production in a single location, manufacturers increasingly distribute sourcing, assembly and logistics across multiple countries. Every additional link in that chain creates more container movements, more transhipment and more demand for port capacity.

The rankings therefore form a narrative that extends beyond simple volume growth. They reveal a container market increasingly driven by network complexity rather than pure consumption.

Asia remains the centre of gravity

Nowhere is that clearer than in Asia. Together, Chinese ports and the rest of Asia accounted for more than two thirds of all throughput recorded in the Top 100, a share that has changed remarkably little despite years of discussion about decoupling and supply chain relocation.

China remains the anchor of the system. Predictions that higher tariffs and trade tensions would produce a sharp slowdown in Chinese ports simply did not materialise. Shanghai retained its position as the world’s largest container port, while Ningbo-Zhoushan, Shenzhen, Qingdao and Guangzhou all recorded solid growth. Perhaps more significantly, expansion was visible far beyond the key coastal gateways, with ports such as Yangpu, Jiaxing, Beibu Gulf and Tangshan recording some of the most rapid growth in the entire ranking.

That performance reinforces an increasingly important theme. The rise of Southeast Asia has not come at China’s expense. Instead, the rankings suggest a more integrated Asian manufacturing ecosystem. Chinese exports continue to underpin global trade, but more components and intermediate goods are flowing between factories in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India before reaching final consumers. Production is becoming more geographically dispersed, while remaining deeply interconnected.

The only major Chinese exception remains Hong Kong, whose long-term decline continued as cargo migrates towards mainland Chinese ports and newer transhipment hubs. Its fall serves as a reminder that while Asia remains dominant, not all ports benefit equally from shifting trade patterns.

Southeast Asia emerges as the principal beneficiary

If one region encapsulates the changing structure of global trade, it is Southeast Asia.

The rankings show continued momentum across Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, fuelled by a combination of manufacturing investment, supply chain diversification and growing intra-Asian commerce. Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City and Cai Mep all advanced strongly, reflecting Vietnam’s growing role as both a manufacturing base and a gateway for regional trade. Laem Chabang strengthened its position as Thailand’s principal maritime gateway, while Malaysia’s Port Klang and the newly consolidated Port of Johor underline the country’s growing importance within east-west and regional networks.

The significance of these gains goes beyond national performance. During the past decade, the industry’s dominant narrative has been “China Plus One”. The rankings increasingly suggest that reality is becoming “China plus many”. Rather than replacing Chinese manufacturing, Southeast Asia is becoming more deeply integrated into it.

Singapore remains the clearest beneficiary of that trend. More than just a national gateway, it continues to function as the primary interchange point for cargo moving between the various production and consumption centres that now make up the global economy. Its continued rise reflects the growing importance of connectivity and transhipment in an era when supply chains are becoming more fragmented rather than more concentrated.

The Middle East’s strategic moment

The strongest regional gains outside Africa came from the Middle East, where the rankings highlight a profound shift in the importance of ports positioned along critical east-west trade corridors.

Dubai remains the region’s largest gateway, but the most dynamic growth came from neighbouring hubs. Abu Dhabi, Port Said, Salalah and Jeddah all recorded substantial advances, reflecting both the changing geography of trade and their growing importance within carrier networks.

The Red Sea crisis has undoubtedly played a role. Diversions around the Cape of Good Hope altered shipping patterns throughout the year, increasing the importance of ports able to support transhipment, relay cargo and provide flexibility within carrier schedules. At the same time, the launch of new alliance structures reshaped service configurations across east-west routes, creating winners and losers as carriers redistributed calls between competing hubs.

Port Said and Salalah in particular illustrate how quickly cargo can return when network economics change. Their resurgence highlights the increasingly strategic role played by transhipment hubs that sit between major production centres and final consumer markets.

Europe’s winners and losers

Europe’s performance was similarly shaped by network dynamics rather than domestic demand.

Although northern Europe recorded healthy aggregate growth, gains were concentrated among ports that successfully captured alliance restructuring and changes in service deployment. Hamburg and Bremerhaven emerged as notable beneficiaries, while London recorded one of the most striking rises anywhere in the ranking following strong growth at DP World’s London Gateway.

The Mediterranean told a more nuanced story. Tanger Med continued to strengthen its role as the region’s leading transhipment hub, while Gioia Tauro also benefited from its affiliated carrier Mediterranean Shipping Company driving volumes across its docks. Yet other established names, including Piraeus, Barcelona and Genoa, moved downwards.

That divergence underlines one of the key lessons of 2025. Port performance is becoming less dependent on national economic conditions and increasingly tied to carrier network decisions. In an era dominated by ultra large container vessels and alliance-driven service structures, securing a position within major trade networks often matters more than local market growth.

North America absorbs the tariff shock

North America was one of the few regions where the anticipated slowdown did emerge.

The initial rush to move cargo ahead of tariff deadlines supported volumes during the first half of the year, but that momentum faded as inventories accumulated and import demand softened. The region remained positive overall, but growth lagged significantly behind most other major markets.

The rankings reveal clear pressure on ports most closely tied to transpacific trade. Los Angeles declined, while the pairing of Seattle/Tacoma and Virginia recorded some of the steepest falls anywhere in the Top 100. Other gateways performed better, but the overall picture supports the view that tariffs had a tangible effect on North American cargo flows, particularly the US.

Crucially, however, the weakness was regional rather than global. Cargo did not disappear. Instead, it was increasingly redirected through alternative sourcing locations, production centres and logistics chains. The rankings demonstrate that tariffs proved more effective at changing where containers moved than reducing the total number moving.

A new hierarchy continues to emerge

Perhaps the most significant conclusion from this year’s ranking is that the container port hierarchy remains in flux.

The fastest-growing ports were rarely the traditional giants. Instead, they were often secondary Chinese gateways, emerging African hubs, Middle Eastern transhipment centres and ports embedded in rapidly expanding regional production networks. Ports such as Yangpu, Port Said, Salalah, Tema and Gdansk all moved sharply up the rankings as global carriers adjusted networks and manufacturers adjusted supply chains.

That reflects a broader shift underway across global trade. For much of the container era, growth depended largely on increasing volumes moving between a small number of exporting and importing nations. Today, growth increasingly comes from the connections between them.

The rankings ultimately suggest that disruption has become one of the industry’s principal growth drivers. Trade wars, Red Sea diversions, alliance restructuring and supply chain diversification have all altered the routing of cargo, often creating more container movements in the process. As a result, the world’s largest ports are prospering not despite volatility, but increasingly because of it.