Top 15 Largest Seaports of the World

rank name of port country total cargo (metric tons)
2007 2008
1. Shanghai China 561,446,000 582,000,000
2. Ningbo-Zhoushan China 437,400,000 520,100,000
3. Singapore Singapore 444,926,800 474,076,000
4. Rotterdam Netherlands 409,100,000 421,100,000
5. Tianjin China 309,600,000 355,900,000
6. Guangzhou China 343,300,000 344,300,000
7. Qingdao China 265,000,000 300,300,000
8. Hong Kong China 245,400,000 259,400,000
9. Qinhuangdao China 245,700,000 252,200,000
10. Houston USA 225,000,000 227,000,000
11. Busan South Korea 224,112,000 222,364,000
12. South Louisiana USA 234,096,700 211,965,900
13. Shenzhen China 199,900,000 211,200,000
14. Nagoya Japan 198,352,000 200,652,000
15. Antwerp Belgium 182,900,000 189,500,000
source: various.
note: some ports use freight tons (volume measurement), others revenue tons and again others metric tons (weight), above all are converted (where necessary) to metric tons. To get from freight ton (FT) to metric ton (MT) FT was multiplied by 0.920.

Top 15 Largest Containerports of the World

rank name of port country total TEU
2007 2008
1. Singapore Singapore 27,935,500 29,918,000
2. Shanghai China 26,152,400 28,010,000
3. Hong Kong China 23,881,000 24,494,000
4. Shenzhen China 21,099,000 21,420,000
5. Busan South Korea 13,260,000 13,425,000
6. Dubai UAE 10,635,000 11,827,000
7. Guangzhou China 9,200,000 11,200,000
8. Ningbo-Zhoushan China 9,350,000 10,846,000
9. Rotterdam Netherlands 10,790,829 10,783,825
10. Qingdao China 9,462,000 10,020,000
11. Hamburg Germany 9,890,000 9,737,000
12. Kaohsiung Taiwan 10,257,000 9,677,000
13. Antwerp Belgium 8,176,000 8,663,000
14. Tianjin China 7,103,000 8,500,000
15. Port Klang Malaysia 7,118,000 7,970,000
source: various.
note: units are in TEU's (Twenty Feet-Equivalent-Units).