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Acontainer port,container terminal, orintermodal terminal is a facility wherecargo containers aretransshipped betweendifferent transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be betweencontainer ships and land vehicles, for exampletrains ortrucks, in which case the terminal is described as amaritime container port. Alternatively, the transshipment may be between land vehicles, typically between train and truck, in which case the terminal is described as aninland container port.
In November 1932, the first inland container port in the world was opened by thePennsylvania Railroad company inEnola, Pennsylvania.[1]
Port Newark-Elizabeth on theNewark Bay in thePort of New York and New Jersey is considered the world's first maritime container port. On April 26, 1956, theIdeal X was rigged for an experiment to use standardized cargo containers that were stacked and then unloaded to a compatible truck chassis at Port Newark. The concept had been developed by the McLean Trucking Company. On August 15, 1962, thePort Authority of New York and New Jersey opened the world’s first container port, Elizabeth Marine Terminal.[2]
Maritime container ports tend to be part of a largerport, and the biggest maritime container ports can be found situated around majorharbours. Inland container ports tend to be located in or near major cities, with good rail connections to maritime container ports.
It is common for cargo that arrives to a container port in a single ship to be distributed over several modes of transportation for delivery to inland customers. According to a manager from thePort of Rotterdam, it may be fairly typical way for the cargo of a large 18,000TEU container ship to be distributed over 19 container trains (74 TEU each), 32 barges (97 TEU each) and 1,560 trucks (1.6 TEU each, on average).[3] The further container terminal, in April 2015, suchAPM Terminal Maasvlakte II, that adapts the advanced technology ofremotely-controlled STSgantry cranes and conceptions ofsustainability,renewable energy, and zerocarbon dioxide emission.[4]
Both maritime and inland container ports usually provide storage facilities for both loaded and empty containers. Loaded containers are stored for relatively short periods, whilst waiting for onward transportation, whilst unloaded containers may be stored for longer periods awaiting their next use. Containers are normally stacked for storage, and the resulting stores are known as container stacks.
In recent years, methodological advances regarding container port operations have considerably improved, such ascontainer port design process. For a detailed description and a comprehensive list of references see, e.g., the operations research literature.[5][6]
This is a list of the world's top 10 largest container port operators in 2024 according toLloyd's List.[7]
| # | Port Operator | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | PSA International |  Singapore |
| 2 | China Merchants Port Holdings (China Merchants Port and 49% of Terminal Link) |  China |
| 3 | COSCO Shipping Ports | China |
| 4 | APM Terminals |  Netherlands |
| 5 | DP World |  United Arab Emirates |
| 6 | Hutchison Port Holdings |  Hong Kong |
| 7 | MSC (Terminal Investment Limited and Africa Global Logistics) |  Switzerland |
| 8 | International Container Terminal Services |  Philippines |
| 9 | CMA CGM (CMA Terminals Holding and 51% of Terminal Link) |  France |
| 10 | Yıldırım Holding (Yilport) |  Turkey |
| Overview |  | |
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