Hong Kong Drops Off World’s Top 10 Container Ports List for 1st Time

Dubai has pushed Hong Kong’s port out of the number 10 place. The shuffle reflects the rapidly declining fortunes of the port, once the world’s busiest.

A Star ferry (C) is seen among cargo ships sailing near the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals port facility in Hong Kong on Aug. 20, 2019. Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images

Hong Kong has dropped off the list of the world’s top 10 container ports last year for the first time, according to recent data from Alphaliner, a French maritime consulting firm.

Hong Kong’s port throughput dropped by 14.1 percent to 14.3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2023, indicating a long-term decline in the once-thriving container port, which ranked among the world’s busiest for over 40 years.