World's busiest port

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Port of Singapore with Sentosa island in the background.

Image:Port of Singapore Keppel Terminal.jpg

Keppel Container Terminal in Singapore

The world's busiest port is contested by several ports around the world, as there is as yet no standardised means of evaluating port performance and traffic. Most keenly fought over this for the past decade was between the Port of Rotterdam and the Port of Singapore, with both ports claiming the busiest port title. The former based its measurement on cargo tonnage handled (total weight of goods loaded and discharged), while the latter ranks in terms of shipping tonnage handled (total volume of ships handled). Since 2005, the Port of Shanghai has exceeded both ports to take the title in terms of total cargo tonnage^{[citation needed]}.

The following ports have variously made claims (or had claims made for them):

Port of Shanghai, People's Republic of China
- World's busiest port by cargo tonnage from 2005

Port of Singapore, Singapore
- World's busiest port by shipping tonnage since 1986[1]
- World's busiest container port in 1990, 1991, 1998, 2005 and 2006[2]
- World's busiest transshipment port [3]
- World's busiest bunkering port since 1988[4]
- Was the World's busiest by cargo tonnage until overtaken by Shanghai in 2005.[[5]]

Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Was the world's busiest port by cargo tonnage since 1962 until it was first overtaken by Singapore, and then by Shanghai since the 1990s.
- Was the world's busiest port by shipping tonnage until 1986.
- Was the world's busiest container port in 1986.[6]