Source: Web Sites of Port Holdings.
(Detailed PDF map)

Container Terminals of the World's Four Major Port Holdings, 2009

Four major port holdings have substantial global assets of about 30-40 dedicated port terminals each; APM Terminals (controlled by the Danish maritime shipper Maersk), Dubai Ports World (DPW), Hutchison Port Holdings (Hong Kong), and the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA). Jointly, they controlled 183 dedicated maritime container terminals in 2009. Several other port holdings exist, owned by specialized private companies (such as SSA for North America or Eurogate for Europe) or by ocean carriers (Hanjin and Evergreen have notable assets), but their focus is mostly regional. A concentration of ownership among four major port holdings is taking place. In 2006 when DPW acquired the terminal assets of P&O (Peninsular & Oriental Ports) further consolidating its global holdings. However, DPW was constrained to renege the American assets of this transaction (terminals in Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia) to the holding AIG (Ports America) due to a political controversy; a Middle Eastern holding operating major American port terminals was perceived negatively in the post 9-11 setting.

Port holdings are thus mainly the outcome of horizontal integration through expansion and mergers with the process leading to a high level of concentration of the global containerized throughput. The seven major port holdings handled a throughput of about 176 million TEUs in 2008, which amounts to 33% of the global throughput.