This list ranks the busiest seaports by cargo tonnage, which refers to the total mass, or in some cases the volume, of cargo transported through each port. The rankings are based on AAPA world port data.

The cargo rankings based on tonnage should be interpreted with caution, since these measures are not directly comparable and cannot be standardized into a single unit. In the Measure column, MT = Metric Tons, HT = Harbor Tons, FT = Freight Tons, and RT = Revenue Tons.

2022 RankPortCountryKilotons1Ningbo-Zhoushan2Tangshan3Shanghai4Qingdao5Guangzhou6Singapore7Suzhou8Rizhao9Port Hedland10Tianjin11Rotterdam12Yantai13Busan14Beibu Gulf15Taizhou16Jiangyin17Huanghua18Dalian19Fuzhou20Lianyungang

2018–2019

RankPortCountry2019 kiloton2018 kiloton1Ningbo-ZhoushanMT 1,120,0901,038,0802ShanghaiMT 716,770716,5903Tangshan656,740636,9904SingaporeFT 626,180630,1305GuangzhouMT606,160538,3306QingdaoMT 577,360541,6107Suzhou522,750531,7908Port HedlandMT521,880517,9909TianjinMT492,200472,81010RotterdamMT469,400468,98011Rizhao463,770437,52012BusanRT455,910450,22013Yantai386,320333,61014DalianMT366,410351,30015NantongMT336,200265,98016Zhanjiang329,160157,72017Huanghua287,160287,16018Taizhou282,430255,13019Gwangyang RT276,040268,13020Hong Kong ChinaMT263,320258,540

2012–2017

+Volumes in kilotonsRankPortCountry20172016AAPA World Port Rankings 20162015AAPA World Port Rankings 20152014AAPA World Port Rankings 20142013AAPA World Port Rankings 20132012AAPA World Port Rankings 20121Ningbo-ZhoushanMT 1,077,110922,092 889,000 873,470 810,000 744,0002ShanghaiMT 705,630647,446 646,514 678,376 696,985 644,6593SingaporeFT 626,170593,297 575,846 581,268 560,888 538,0124Suzhou607,740573,7605GuangzhouMT566,190544,374 475,481 500,975 472,760 438,0006Tangshan565,400515,8007Port HedlandMT512,330484,510 452,940 446,922 488,000 288,4438QingdaoMT 506,990443,978 476,216 465,055 450,111 407,3409TianjinMT502,840428,098 440,430 445,780 477,399 477,00010RotterdamMT467,350461,177 466,363 444,733 440,464 441,52711DalianMT451,050318,413 320,658 337,366 320,843 303,00012BusanRT400,510349,708 347,713 335,411 313,295 298,68913Yingkou362,390347,02014Rizhao360,020350,62015South LouisianaMT307,860237,594 235,058 242,578 216,445 228,67716Gwangyang RT291,830283,106 272,007 134,947 127,642 109,73017Yantai285,600265,36018Hong Kong ChinaMT281,550256,730 256,488 297,737 276,055 269,28219Zhanjiang281,520255,17020Huanghua269,570245,110

Rankings 2004–2011 +Volumes in kilotonsRankPortCountryMeasure2011AAPA World Port Rankings 20112010AAPA World Port Rankings 20102009AAPA World Port Rankings 20092008AAPA World Port Rankings 20082007AAPA World Port Rankings 2007 2006AAPA World Port Rankings 200620052004AAPA World Port Rankings 2004 (archive link, was dead)1ShanghaiMT590,439534,371505,715508,000561,446537,000443,000378,9622SingaporeFT531,176501,566472,300515,415483,616448,500423,267393,4183TianjinMT459,941400,000381,110365,163309,465257,600245,100206,1614RotterdamMT434,551429,926386,957421,136401,181378,400376,600352,5635GuangzhouMT431,000425,600364,000347,000341,363302,800241,700215,1906QingdaoMT372,000350,120274,304278,271265,020224,200184,300161,6507NingboMT348,911408,180371,540361,850471,630309,700272,400225,8508QinhuangdaoMT284,600276,815243,850252,000245,964204,900167,500150,3209BusanRT281,513262,963226,182241,683243,564217,900217,200219,76010Hong Kong ChinaMT277,444267,815242,967259,402245,433238,200230,139220,87911Port HedlandMT246,672198,997178,625159,391130,707111,800110,600108,50012South LouisianaMT223,633214,337192,853203,157207,785204,600192,549203,51713HoustonMT215,731206,055191,729192,473196,014201,500192,023183,41914DalianMT211,065200,000204,000246,000222,859200,500176,800145,16215ShenzhenMT205,475204,860211,000187,045199,190176,000153,900135,24616KlangFT193,726168,588137,615152,348135,514122,000109,70099,91117AntwerpMT187,151178,167157,807189,390182,897167,400160,100152,30018NagoyaFT186,305185,703165,101218,130215,602208,000187,100182,28919DampierMT171,844165,025N/A140,823133,949126,000110,10087,9220UlsanRT163,181150,933170,314170,279168,652161,100103,50156,500

2005

RankPortCountryMeasureTons (000s)AAPA World Port Rankings 2005 (archive link, was dead)+/- from 2004% change from 20041ShanghaiMT443,00064,03816.902SingaporeFT423,26729,8497.593RotterdamMT376,60024,0376.824NingboMT272,40046,55020.615TianjinMT245,10038,93918.896GuangzhouMT241,70026,51012.327Hong Kong ChinaMT230,1399,2604.198BusanRT217,200-2,560-1.169South LouisianaMT192,549-10,968-5.3910HoustonMT192,0238,6044.6911NagoyaFT187,1004,8112.6412QingdaoMT184,30022,65014.0113GwangyangRT177,50011,6257.0114DalianMT176,80031,63821.7915QinhuangdaoMT167,50017,18011.4316ChibaFT165,700-3,554-2.1017AntwerpMT160,1007,7735.1018ShenzhenMT153,90018,65413.7919New York/New JerseyMT138,014-314-0.2320KaohsiungMT137,900-14,568-9.5521YokohamaFT133,3006,3404.9922HamburgMT125,70011,2169.8023IncheonRT123,50010,4279.2224NovorossiyskMT113,10015,30015.6425Port HedlandMT110,6002,1001.9426DampierMT110,10022,17225.2227KlangFT109,7009,7899.8028UlsanRT103,500-53,017-33.8729KitakyushuFT101,700-1,545-1.5030MarseilleMT96,6002,5072.6631OsakaFT93,100-47-0.0532TubarãoMT92,7008,2679.7933Port of Jebel AliMT92,50015,12019.5434TokyoFT92,0005730.6335KobeFT91,2005,5396.4736Richards BayHT86,6001,6461.9437ItaquiMT85,9008,94211.6238NewcastleMT85,6002,0402.4439Hay PointMT81,600-3,959-4.6340VancouverMT76,5002,9263.9841HuntingtonMT76,1045,9248.4442Le HavreMT75,000-1,175-1.5443AmsterdamMT74,9001,7242.3644Long BeachMT72,447-237-0.3345SantosMT71,9004,2916.3546BeaumontMT71,566-11,677-14.0347Corpus Christi, TexasMT70,441-1,207-1.6848GladstoneMT67,2004,0526.4249SepetibaMT67,10050AlgecirasMT63,5002,2063.60

2004

RankPortCountryMeasureTons (000s)+/- from 2003% change from 20031SingaporeFT393,41845,72413.152ShanghaiMT378,96262,75219.853RotterdamMT352,56325,6057.834NingboMT225,85071,87046.675Hong Kong ChinaMT220,87913,2676.396BusanRT219,76057,30035.277GuangzhouMT215,19047,47028.308TianjinMT206,16144,34127.409South LouisianaMT203,51723,02412.7610HoustonMT183,41910,0995.8311NagoyaFT182,28913,9118.2612ChibaFT169,2542540.1513GwangyangRT165,8757860.4814QingdaoMT161,65020,75014.7315UlsanRT156,5179,5776.5216KaohsiungMT152,46813,6369.8217AntwerpMT152,3279,4526.6218QinhuangdaoMT150,32024,70019.6619DalianMT145,16219,14215.1920New York/New JerseyMT138,3285,8904.4521ShenzhenMT135,24647,57654.2722YokohamaFT126,9601,0170.8123HamburgMT114,4847,9487.4624IncheonRT113,073-17,945-13.7025Port HedlandMT108,50018,70120.8326KitakyushuFT103,24514,35516.1527KlangFT99,91111,02312.4028NovorossiyskMT97,80012,30014.3229MarseilleMT94,093-1,452-1.5230OsakaFT93,1473,4603.8631TokyoFT91,4272,9523.3432DampierMT87,928-952-1.0733KobeFT85,6616,9028.7634Hay PointMT85,5598,01310.3335Richards BayHT84,954-2,567-2.9336TubarãoMT84,4336,8128.7837NewcastleMT83,5608481.0338BeaumontMT83,2433,7734.7539Port of Jebel AliMT77,38013,75421.6240ItaquiMT76,9589,36713.8641Le HavreMT76,1754,6826.5542VancouverMT73,5746,84710.2643AmsterdamMT73,1767,71511.7944Long BeachMT72,6849,86815.7145Corpus Christi, TexasMT71,6481,5432.2046New OrleansMT70,886-5,230-6.8747HuntingtonMT70,180-303-0.4348SantosMT67,6097,53212.5449GladstoneMT63,1483,4875.8450Texas CityMT61,987  

2003

RankPortCountryMeasureTons (000s)+/- from 2002% change from 20021SingaporeFT347,69412,5383.742RotterdamMT326,9585,1071.593ShanghaiMT316,21077,60432.524Hong Kong ChinaMT207,61215,1027.845South LouisianaMT180,493-15,952-8.126HoustonMT173,32012,1307.527ChibaFT169,00010,0716.348NagoyaFT168,37810,3586.559GuangzhouMT167,72027,32519.4610GwangyangRT165,08911,6427.5911BusanRT162,46018,68813.0012TianjinMT161,82032,82025.4413NingboMT153,9803,9802.6514UlsanRT146,940-1,472-0.9915AntwerpMT142,87511,2468.5416QingdaoMT140,90020,90017.4217KaohsiungMT138,8329,4187.2818New York/New JerseyMT132,43810,3358.4619IncheonRT131,018-15,163-10.3720DalianMT126,02018,48217.1921YokohamaFT125,9437,8716.6722QinhuangdaoMT125,6204,4683.6923HamburgMT106,5368,2648.4124MarseilleMT95,5453,2843.5625Port HedlandMT89,7998,0419.8426OsakaFT89,6873,1883.6927KitakyushuFT88,8904,6415.5128KlangFT88,8886,6178.0429DampierMT88,880-3,348-3.6330TokyoFT88,4755,5306.6731ShenzhenMT87,67011,78815.5332Richards BayHT87,5216,0127.3833NovorossiyskMT85,50022,20935.0934NewcastleMT82,7125,8257.5835BeaumontMT79,4701,4801.9036KobeFT78,7591580.2037TubarãoMT77,6211,7562.3138Hay PointMT77,5462,8743.8539New OrleansMT76,116-1,047-1.3640Le HavreMT71,4933,7955.6141HuntingtonMT70,483-3,107-4.2242Corpus Christi, TexasMT70,1054,7437.2643ItaquiMT67,5912,6494.0844VancouverMT66,7273,9266.2545AmsterdamMT65,461-4,956-7.0446Port of Jebel AliMT63,626  47Long BeachMT62,8161,2011.9548SantosMT60,0776,60312.3549GladstoneMT59,6615,1959.5450AlgecirasMT56,682  

2002

RankPortCountryMeasureTons (000s)1 SingaporeMT335,1562 RotterdamMT321,8513 ShanghaiMT238,6064 South LouisianaMT196,4455 Hong Kong ChinaMT192,5106 HoustonMT161,1907 ChibaFT158,9298 NagoyaFT158,0209 GwangyangRT153,44710 NingboMT150,00011 UlsanRT148,41212 IncheonRT146,18113 BusanRT143,77214 GuangzhouMT140,39515 AntwerpMT131,62916 KaohsiungMT129,41417 TianjinMT129,00018 New York/New JerseyMT122,10319 QinhuangdaoMT121,15220 QingdaoMT120,00021 YokohamaFT118,07222 DalianMT107,53823 HamburgMT98,27224 MarseilleMT92,26125 DampierMT92,22826 OsakaFT86,49927 KitakyushuFT84,24928 TokyoFT82,94529 KlangFT82,27130 Port HedlandMT81,75831 Richards BayMT81,50932 KobeFT78,60133 BeaumontMT77,99034 New OrleansMT77,16335 NewcastleMT76,88736 ShenzhenMT75,88237 TubarãoMT75,86538 Hay PointMT74,67239 HuntingtonMT73,59040 AmsterdamMT70,41741 Le HavreMT67,69842 Corpus ChristiMT65,36243 ItaquiMT64,94244 NovorossiyskMT63,29145 VancouverMT62,80146 Long BeachMT61,61547 Baton RougeMT54,99748 GladstoneMT54,46649 PlaqueminesMT53,66150 SantosMT53,474

References and notes

AAPA World Port Rankings 2003 AAPA World Port Rankings 2002