There are many container ports across the world, many of which are busy year round. However there are others that only get massive amounts of business during the holidays. The number one busiest port in the world is in Singapore, where in 2008 there were a total of 29,918 thousand TEU containers to go through the port. Shanghai came in number 2 in the world for busiest port, located in the People’s Republic of China with 27,980 TEU or twenty-foot equivalent units of traffic. For example, a 40 foot container is 2 TEU, so for every 20 foot of container, there is 1 TEU.

The third busiest of all container ports in the world is Hong Kong, with a total of 24,248 TEU of business, and Shenzhen in the People’s Republic of China sits at fourth with 21,414 TEU of business in 2008. Rotterdam in the Netherlands was ranked 9th in the world in 2008 for TEU business, and Hamburg, Germany was ranked 11th. In the United States, Los Angeles was ranked 16th busiest of all container ports, with Long Beach being ranked 17th. Vancouver in Canada was ranked in 2008 as the 44th busiest container ports, with Barcelona, Spain being ranked 41st with a total of 2,570 TEU of business. With this being said, it makes a difference what container ports you use, as to how fast you will get your shipment. The more business or TEU container ports have, the slower the shipment will be. This is due to the fact that when there is more business, the time frame to get or send your containers will naturally take longer due to the massive number of containers in the port. For those ports that have less business or TEUs, there are fewer containers being passed through the port, therefore your container will make the trip in less time onto or off of a ship.

There are companies that work specifically with certain container ports, and this is due to the fact that some companies are able to determine almost exact timing for shipments going through that port. Container ports that these companies work with normally keep their relationship due to deals on costs as well as the fact that they may have never had a late shipment with those specific container ports. Some container ports have less wait times than others due to TEUs, while others have shorter wait times for shipping due to a lack of business. Choosing your shipping company should also include the container ports they work with as well as the costs you will get for using those container ports.

When choosing container ports to work with, it is best to find your container ports’ information by checking the ports’ website. The AAPA World Port Rankings are available online free of charge, and can be checked at any time for your specific container ports’ information. These are available also by doing a general search online for world port rankings, and then searching for your specific container ports.