Source: data from Containerization International. Detailed PDF MapWorld's Major Container Ports, 2010Container ports are reflective of the world's commercial
geography particularly since they dominantly handle finished and
intermediate goods. Prior to the 1990s, the world's most important ports were North
American (e.g. New York) and Western European (e.g. Rotterdam).
Containerization completely changed the world's commercial geography
with the emergence of port locations reflecting changes in the
global geography of production and consumption. This geography indicates a high level
of traffic concentration around large port facilities, notably Pacific Asian ports along to Tokyo - Singapore corridor. As export
oriented economic development strategies took shape, containers handled
in Pacific Asian ports, notably Chinese ports, surged. The
comparative size of ports requires caution as several ports can be
considered more statistical agglomerations than functional entities.
For instance, the port of Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta is
composed of several large port facilities (e.g. Yantian, Chiwan,
Shekou) that act as distinct entities within their operations and
are even servicing different hinterlands. The same observation
applies to Guangzhou and Shanghai that are multiport (terminal)
entities. The world container port system is characterized by a high
level of traffic concentration with the 20 largest container
ports handling more than 49% of
global traffic in 2010. There is also
an emerging geography of container ports where there is a specialization
between container ports acting as gateways and container ports acting
as intermediate hubs. Gateway ports command the access of large manufacturing
or market regions. Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Rotterdam are notable
examples of ports that command access to a vast hinterland. Intermediate hub ports (or offshore hubs) act as intermediary
locations where containers are transshipped between different segments
of the global maritime transport system in a manner similar to hubs
in air transportation. Singapore and Dubai are among
the most prominent transshipment hubs, each servicing a specific
transshipment market.
