Container ports in the United States climb into the TOP 20 in the first half due to the pandemic

Ports of Los Angeles - Long Beach surpass Hong Kong and rival the Chinese port of Tianjin.

24/09/2021

US consumers are shaking the bottom of the global port performance chart as demand for goods soars in North America in the wake of Covid.

Figures for the first half of 2021 show that Los Angeles-Long Beach (LA-LB) and New York-New Jersey (NY-NJ) posted year-on-year performance growth of 41% and 31% respectively, with LA-LB processing more than 10 million TEUs in the first half of that period. LA-LB volumes have now surpassed Hong Kong's, and activity in California ports today rival that of the Chinese port of Tianjin, China's sixth-largest port.

Although year-on-year increases are distorted by the drop in port performance recorded in the first half of 2020, LA-LB ports also increased their volumes by almost 24% compared to the first half of 2019.

Meanwhile, NY-NJ posted volumes of nearly 4,4 million TEUs during the first half, surpassing the ports of Hamburg (Germany) and Laem Chabang (Thailand) to climb to 18th place globally. The increase was less than that observed in LA-LB, but nevertheless represents an increase of 31% compared to the same period in 2020 and of 20% over the first half of 2019. The increase in cargo handling has caused severe congestion in the two ports.

Overall, the top 20 container ports handled 13% more twenty-foot TEUs in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, although there was a slight decrease of around 1% compared to the second half 2020, another sign that the current boom is being driven by outages and shortages of capacity rather than volumes.

Although, as expected, the top 20 ports increased their activity compared to the first half 2020, four now handle less cargo than before the Covid outbreak.

Volumes from Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Dubai and Hamburg decreased –3,6%, -4,9% -3,6% and –6,7% respectively in the same period in 2019.

In particular, Hong Kong's long-term decline continues whose volumes have fallen every year except one for the past decade as the multi-carrier port has battled competitors in southern China.

By contrast, its closest geographic rival, Shenzhen, has increased its volumes by 11% since the first half of 2019, while ports in the smaller Guangdong province west of the Delta also attracted more cargo. Hong Kong now ranks 2017th globally, down from XNUMXth in XNUMX.

The ports of Dubai-Jebel Ali have also seen their cargo mobilization drop as the port has suffered from local competition. In fact, a number of nearby facilities have announced ambitious expansion plans in recent years, even as demand has not been apparent.

However, Hamburg recorded the biggest drop compared to the first half of 2019, at –6,7%, and was the only one to drop out of the three main European countries.

Rotterdam's volumes are still 1% higher than the equivalent period in 2019, while Antwerp has increased its performance by 5,6% in the period.

Below is the TOP 20 Ports in container mobilization first period 2021, TEUS mobilized and the comparative percentages with similar periods of 2020 and 2019: