The PSA topped the list of leading port owners in 2010, based on a new ranking system introduced this year.
Industry analyst Drewry Maritime Research unveiled a new system for ranking the top 10 port operators in the world to include operators with equity TEU of more than one million, regardless of whether they operate internationally or not.
“In total this encompasses 65 firms and organisations ranging from the established international operators to state owned port authorities, financial investors and large local players,” Drewry said in a statement released August 10, 2011 on its website.
“We have decided to add a new analysis of the industry to this year’s report, giving a broader perspective than just focusing on those operators that we class as ‘global,’” said Neil Davidson, Drewry’s senior advisor for ports.
Davidson added that many significant terminal operators around the world have international ambitions, and the new league table puts them into perspective and highlights the sheer scale of “local” operators such as Shanghai International Ports Group (SIPG), China Merchants, and Modern Terminals.
“Taken together, the top 10 players under this method of analysis accounted for 40% of world throughput in 2010,” he said.
Based on equity TEU, PSA led the top 10 terminal operators last year. It recorded 51.3 million TEUs for a 9.4 percent share of world throughput.
Other terminal operators on the list are the following: Hutchison Port Holdings with 36 million TEUs and 6.6 percent share; DP World, 32.6 million TEUs and 6 percent share; APM Terminals, 31.6 million TEUs and 5.8 percent share; SIPG, 19.5 TEUs and 3.6 percent share.
Rounding up the list are Cosco with 13.6 million TEUs and 2.5 share; MSC, 9.9 million TEUs and 1.8 percent share; China Merchants, 8.9 million TEUs and 1.6 percent share; Ports America, 8.1 million TEUs and 1.5 percent share; and Modern Terminals, 8 million TEUs and 1.5 percent share.
Together the top 10 container terminal operators had 219.5 million TEUs with a 40.2 percent share of global throughput, Drewry said.
