Major Chinese ports handle record throughput in 2025 amid US tariffs

[SINGAPORE] Major Chinese ports reported record-high container throughput in 2025, shrugging off tariffs imposed by the US.

Ningbo-Zhoushan port’s container throughput came in at over 43 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) last year, it said on Tuesday (Jan 6).

TEU is a standard measure for container movements.

Ningbo-Zhoushan’s cargo throughput, which comprises goods besides those moved in containers, was also at an all-time high, at 1.4 billion tonnes.

Ningbo-Zhoushan noted that it is therefore likely to retain its global top position in cargo handling for the 17th consecutive year.

In September 2025, a vessel offering the world’s first China‑Europe container express route via the Arctic departed from the port in eastern China.

Shanghai, the world’s busiest box port in 2024, reported that its container throughput crossed the 50-million-TEU mark in late November 2025, putting it on track to surpass the record of 51.5 million TEUs set in 2024.

It has not announced its container volume for the full year.

Data from China’s Ministry of Transport showed that container throughput across the country’s ports totalled 324.7 million TEUs in the first 11 months of 2025, up 6.6 per cent year on year. Cargo throughput at these ports rose 4.4 per cent to about 16.8 billion tonnes.

SEE ALSO

Singapore’s container throughput hits over 40 million TEUs in 2024, breaks record

In 2024, Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan were the busiest and third-busiest container ports in the world, respectively, according to data from the World Shipping Council. Singapore took second place that year.

From January to end-November 2025, Singapore handled about 40.7 million TEUs; the full-year figure has not been released.

Higher throughput handled at Chinese ports has proven that the tariffs imposed by the US in April 2025 have not dented China’s trade.

Ho Woei Chen, an economist at UOB, said the strong container throughput in 2025 was in line with the resilient trade in China. China’s exports rose 5.4 per cent between January and November, with strong shipments to non-US markets such as Asean and the European Union offsetting the double-digit contraction in exports to US since April.

Tan Hua Joo, an analyst at container shipping intelligence provider Linerlytica, holds similar views, saying that China’s exports outside the US drove the rise in container handling volumes, especially on the intra-Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe routes.

Meanwhile, he forecast that global container cargo demand remained resilient through 2025, with volumes handled at ports worldwide set to exceed 1 billion TEUs for the first time.