Top 20 Locations Container Traffic Handled in TEUs (1973 vs 2021)

Trade is the bloodline of of our global economy. How you get your goods and services relies predominantly on global trade. Everything from the foods we eat each day and the fashion we clothe ourselves in rely on trade and efficient supply chains. This infobyte illustrates Asia's growing dominance over the past half century. 

 

In 1973, American ports were the busiest in the world. You'll notice that there were only 4 Asian Ports in the Top 20 "most active/busy ports" list, based on container traffic. Also note how 3 out of 4 of those Asian ports sat in Japan. 

 

48 years later in 2021, not one of the top 20 busiest ports are Japanese. Instead, 14 of the top 20 busiest ports are in Asia. 8 are in China, 2 in Malaysia, and the rest in Singapore, Busan (Korea), Hong Kong, and Dubai. Rotterdam, which much of the world still sees as the mecca of ports is only #10 on the list. Only 2 American ports make the list, and they are in the bottom quartile.

 

Singapore has announced that it is targeting 150 marine tradetech startups to call the city home by 2025, in an effort to become the Silicon Valley for marine tech. China - as the dominant trade player of today -  already has over 40 maritime tech startups, developing everything from unmanned or autonomously driven ships, to building AI-powered ship cleaning robots, underwater drones, electric shipping motors, maritime communications and the like. As trade continues to see significant growth, what trade-tech innovations will we see developed in the future?