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September 18th, 2025
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By Theo Notteboom The global container shipping fleet has experienced significant growth over the past few decades, driven by the steady rise in international trade. Shipping lines have expanded their fleets either through organic growth—as in the case of MSC—or through a combination of organic growth and mergers & acquisitions, like Maersk. Today, the top 20 container carriers collectively operate a fleet (including both owned and chartered vessels) with a total capacity of 30 million TEU. Three years ago, this figure...
June 12th, 2025
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PortEconomics member Jean-Paul Rodrigue delivered a testimony in front of the Joint Economic Committee of the Congress of the United States, in Washington, DC. The hearing was on "Barriers to Supply Chain Modernisation and Factor Productivity Enhancements". Jean-Paul's contribution focused on the main barriers that North American ports, particularly container ports, are facing. He suggested a greater autonomy for port authorities with expanded governance. Many are landlords who may be required to act more as entrepreneurs.The full...
May 13th, 2025
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By Thanos Pallis Having attended the most successful Posidonia Events Sea Tourism Forum 2025,  I am pleased to share with PortEconomcs readers some extracts, personal perspectives & standout figures: 1️⃣ Strong forecasts for 42m Passengers by 2028 (Source: CLIA in Europe) - implies: > 200 million port passenger movements2️⃣ Innovative & brave initiatives by several cruise lines - so bad that the general public prefers stereotypes.3️⃣ Plenty of initiatives to enhance hashtag#sustainability - nice to see a...
April 25th, 2025
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In a remarkable turn of events, the port of Antwerp-Bruges has overtaken Rotterdam in container throughput during the first quarter of 2025. Antwerp-Bruges handled 3.4 million TEU, registering a year-on-year increase of 4.5%, while Rotterdam recorded 3.3 million TEU (+2.2%). PortEconomics member Theo Notteboom,  reports: "This development marks the first time since 1966—the year the first container liner services arrived in Europe—that Rotterdam has not held the top spot among European container ports. Yet, the question...
February 27th, 2025
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Theo Notteboom, PortEconomics co-director, analyses the evolution of container throughput at Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges over the past five decades and reveals a significant shift in European port dynamics. While Rotterdam has historically been the dominant container hub, Antwerp-Bruges has steadily increased its share, now nearly matching Rotterdam’s volume. As Theo Notteboom analyses: "The ports of Rotterdam (NL) and Antwerp-Bruges (BE) are situated in the Rhine-Scheldt Delta, the most significant multi-port region in Europe in terms...
February 27th, 2025
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The 2024 ranking of the top 15 EU container ports highlights both stability on the top of the ranking and significant changes in port performance for the remaining ports. Rotterdam retains its position as Europe’s largest container port, handling 13.82 million TEUs, followed closely by Antwerp-Bruges at 13.53 million TEUs. Hamburg remains in third place with 7.8 million TEUs, while Valencia moves up to fourth place, benefiting from strong 14.2% growth. Following, the graphic below presents the ranking of the top 15 EU container...
January 2nd, 2025
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by Jean-Paul Rodrigue Despite facing growing competition and uncertainty due to geopolitical events, Singapore has maintained its prominence in maritime shipping, with its status as a primary transshipment hub evident in its sizeable port activity. The 2023 Red Sea crisis resulted in a temporary surge in Singapore's traffic, but also underlined its vulnerability to geopolitical events. Though its future prospects remain solid, particularly with its geographical advantages and the development of the Tuas mega container port, the...
November 22nd, 2024
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By Theo Notteboom The top 15 EU container ports are strongly recovering in the period from January to September 2024 after a challenging 2023: While 2023 was characterized by a strong to moderate traffic decline in most ports, the first nine months of 2024 brought double-digit growth in 6 of the top 15 ports. The effects of the Red Sea crisis and the associated shipping network modifications continue to be traceable in the West Med and the Atlantic coast with Sines, Barcelona, and Valencia all recording robust growth. Also Gioia...
September 7th, 2024
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PortEconomics members Ricardo J. Sánchez and Eliana P. Barleta highlight that in the aftermath of the pandemic, the impact on container maritime trade was evident, as disruptions in global supply chains during the early months of 2020 affected international container trade. With the reopening of markets and the revival of economies, an increase in cargo movement was observed across all regions in 2021. However, global maritime activity experienced a slowdown following the onset of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, coupled with the...
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