Four companies handle 30% of world traffic

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

28 Sep 2007

PSA and APM Terminals BV. have overtaken Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) as the world's largest container port operators, says a report from Drewry Shipping Consultants. Between them, PSA, APM Terminals, Hutchison and DP World handle some 30% of worldwide container traffic, said the report. PSA tops the league with 41.2 million TEUs or 9.3% of the global total (calculated in reference to equity per TEU, given PSA's acquisition of 20% of Hutchison). In second place is APM Terminals with 32.4 million TEUs or 7.4%, followed by Hutchison with 30.8 million TEUs or 7%. DP World is in fourth place with a 5.9% share. Statistics show the four biggest operators are pulling away from their smaller rivals, with facilities owned by fifth-placed Evergreen only handling 8.1 million TEUs, representing a market share of 1.8%. According to the Drewry report, however, local terminal operators are often just as efficient as their global rivals. It said that however performance was measured – throughput per quay metre, TEU per ship-to-shore gantry or TEU per hectare - global operators were “no better or worse than local operators.” “The research shows that it is frequently the case that a well-run local terminal operator can perform at the same level as a global operator located in the same region,” said Neil Davidson, director of research for ports at Drewry.