APM Terminals has shot up from fourth to second place in the latest global terminals rankings created by UK consultants Drewry, leapfrogging two Chinese state-owned conglomerates in the process.
Drewry’s latest Global Container Terminal Operators Annual Review and Forecast report has just been published, which sees Singapore’s PSA International retain top spot globally, while Maersk-linked APM Terminals leaps above China Merchants and COSCO into silver on the podium.
APM Terminals reported the largest absolute increase in equity-adjusted volumes in 2021, with volumes up 10.3% or 4.7m teu to 50.4m teu for the year, some 13m teu behind PSA.
The report argues that the widespread container shipping trade recovery in the wake of the covid pandemic has boosted the global terminal capacity outlook, supported by global terminal operators’ increased appetite for higher-risk greenfield projects to deliver long-term growth. Global container port capacity is projected to increase by an average annual rate of 2.4% to reach 1.38bn teu by 2026, according to Drewry. However, the worsening economic and geopolitical situation has led to a downgrading of the cargo demand outlook, and as a result container port utilisation is now projected to moderate to 70% in 2025 compared to last year’s projection of 75%.
