CHINA's growing in global trade was reflected in 2020 statistics as its major container ports continued to grow despite the Covid crisis, reports London's Lloyd's Loading List

Chinese ports are on six of the top eight spots in Alphaliner's ranking of the world's biggest 25 container hubs in 2020.

Shanghai retained its position as the world's largest box port in 2020, with volumes rising 0.5 per cent. The Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan fell 4.4 per cent, Shenzhen dropped three per cent, Qingdao fell 4.7 per cent and Tianjin dropped 6.1 per cent.

"With booming transpacific trade volumes, Qingdao moved up to sixth place during the year, while number one Shanghai pulled further ahead of its nearest competitor, Singapore, increasing its lead by nearly 10 per cent to 6.7 million TEU," said Alphaliner.

Shanghai's throughput rose to 43.5 million TEU compared with Singapore's 36.9 million TEU, a drop of 0.9 per cent.

Malaysia's Port Kelang and Tanjung Pelepas and Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York/Newark were the only other countries with more than one port in the top 25.

The top 25 container ports handled a combined 395.7 million TEU, a rise of 0.55 per cent versus the 393.5 million recorded in 2019.