Chattogram retains 68th global port ranking

Chattogram port has retained its 68th position among the world’s 100 busiest container ports for the second consecutive year, despite handling 4 percent more containers in 2025 than in the previous year.

London-based shipping journal Lloyd’s List recently published the ranking in a special report titled “Lloyd’s List: One Hundred Ports 2026”. The ranking is based solely on container traffic data from seaports worldwide in 2025, rather than service quality or overall performance.

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Even so, container throughput remains a key indicator of economic activity, reflecting trade volumes of industrial raw materials as well as high-value imports and exports.

According to the publication, Chattogram port handled 34.09 lakh twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers in 2025, up from 32.75 lakh TEUs in 2024 – a year-on-year rise of 4.1 percent.

At Chattogram port, Lloyd’s said growth remained modest.

“But major investments from APM Terminals, MSC and Red Sea Gateway are reshaping the future of Bangladesh’s leading container port.”

On the global stage, China maintained its dominance in container shipping in 2025, with Shanghai retaining the top spot after handling 5.50 crore TEUs, up 6.9 percent year-on-year.

Singapore followed in second place with 4.47 crore TEUs. Six of the world’s top 10 container ports are in China, whose ports handled more than 40 percent of the 792.2 million TEUs handled by the world’s top 100 ports in 2025, a 6.3 percent year-on-year increase.

Chattogram has remained among the top 100 since 2009. Its best ranking in the Lloyd’s List over the past decade was 58th, based on 2019 container traffic and published in the 2020 rankings. Despite continued growth in container volumes since then, the port has yet to regain that position.

Commenting on the latest ranking, Mohammed Amirul Haque, president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said growth in container traffic through Chattogram port was closely linked to the country’s overall economic activity.

He said container handling had continued to increase year after year despite various challenges, adding that further improvements could be achieved by overcoming energy shortages and enhancing services at both the port and customs.

He also said the good news was that both local and foreign investments were returning to Chattogram Port, while new terminals were being developed. These, he added, would significantly expand the port’s container-handling capacity once operational.