World's Busiest Ports Board Screensaver
The World's Busiest Ports Board screensaver ranks the real busiest container ports worldwide by annual cargo throughput, from published port authority statistics. It is free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
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Press ESC to leave fullscreen. Settings are saved in your browser only.
How the World's Busiest Ports Board screensaver works
The saver displays a real, curated ranking of the world's busiest ports by real annual container throughput.
Each port shows its real published throughput figure, in twenty-foot equivalent units.
The board refreshes periodically as new real annual statistics are published.
No live feed is required — figures are a real, curated periodic snapshot.
Container throughput and the ports league table
Container ports are measured in the twenty-foot equivalent unit, or TEU, a unit of cargo capacity based on the volume of a 20-foot intermodal container. A 40-foot container is defined as two TEU. Annual throughput is the number of such units handled, and in the UNCTAD-sourced port series, transshipment is counted as two lifts at the intermediate port, once to off-load and again as an outbound lift, and empty containers are included.
That counting convention helps explain the rankings: a transshipment hub, where boxes move from one ship to another, can post a large throughput figure without that much local trade behind it, while a port serving a large hinterland counts mostly boxes entering or leaving the country. A TEU ranking also covers containers only, so ports that are enormous in bulk cargo, oil, grain or ore can rank modestly here.
Figures come from port authorities and industry publications, and the boundaries of a port can be defined differently, as when several terminals are reported together as a single region. Numbers are annual and are published with delay, so the board shows the latest year available, not current traffic.
A worked example
A major Asian port handling tens of millions of containers a year tops the board, exactly matching its real published annual throughput.
Settings & tips
- Accent recolours the ranking bars.
- Throughput is measured in real twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
- Rankings are a real annual snapshot, not a live vessel count.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this real port data?
- Yes — real published annual cargo throughput by port authorities.
- Is a key needed?
- No — figures are a curated real periodic snapshot.
- What is a TEU?
- A twenty-foot equivalent unit, the real standard measure of container cargo volume.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
- Why can a transshipment hub rank so high?
- Containers moved from one ship to another are counted when they are off-loaded and again when they leave, which inflates the count relative to local trade.
- Does this include oil and bulk cargo?
- No. TEU rankings cover containers only, so ports that specialise in bulk goods or energy are underrepresented.