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The throughput of 19 global terminal operators showed strong recovery in 2024, rising 7.2% year-on-year to 928 million twenty-foot equivalent units, according to maritime research and consulting services firm Drewry
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For its latest Global Container Terminal Operators Annual Review and Forecast report, 19 companies qualified as global terminal operators for coverage
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The GTOs marginally outperformed the global market, increasing their equity-adjusted volumes by an average 7.7% YoY, which increased the GTOs’ share of the global market to 49.2% in 2024 from 48.9% in 2023
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The top spot in the equity-adjusted rankings has been retained by PSA International
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For 2025, global container handling capacity is projected to increase 4.8%/64 mteu
The port throughput of 19 global terminal operators (GTOs) showed strong recovery in 2024, rising 7.2% year on year (YoY) to 928 million twenty-foot equivalent units (mteu), according to maritime research and consulting services firm Drewry.
For its latest Global Container Terminal Operators Annual Review and Forecast report, 19 companies qualified as GTOs for coverage with MOL, NYK and Yang Ming dropping out of the Drewry league tables and ONE making its debut in the global rankings.
The GTOs marginally outperformed the global market, increasing their equity-adjusted volumes by an average 7.7% YoY, which increased the GTOs’ share of the global market to 49.2% in 2024 from 48.9% in 2023.
The top spot in the equity-adjusted rankings has been retained by PSA International, with an equity-adjusted throughput of 67.2 mteu, up 7.3%.
The sector’s continuing story since the pandemic has been the rise of those GTOs that Drewry classifies as hybrid terminal operators.
The terminal operating arms of several of the leading global carriers – MSC Group (TiL and AGL), CMA CGM (CMA Terminals and Terminal Link) and, most recently, Hapag-Lloyd (Hanseatic Global Terminals) – have strengthened their position in the rankings.
These business units, which are wholly- or majority-owned by carriers, are primarily operating terminals on the same commercial basis as the leading independent operators – PSA International, China Merchants, DP World, Hutchison Ports – but are better at guaranteeing volumes due to matched ownership.
“These operators have really pushed forward with mergers and acquisition (M&A)-led expansion strategies, which is often the only means of entry into established port markets,” said Eleanor Hadland, author of the report and senior analyst for ports and terminals of the United Kingdom-based Drewry.
Cash-rich carriers have spent some of their pandemic profits in the terminal sector — with the dual aim of controlling performance and cost at key gateway ports and improving the linkages between their growing maritime and land-based transport networks.
In particular, MSC and CMA CGM have substantially expanded their terminal portfolios over the past five years, and neither shows any sign of slowing down.
For this year, global container handling capacity is projected to increase 4.8%/64 mteu, which “will be the largest annual increase in absolute terms since the global financial crisis,” Hadland said.
This reflects the buoyant market conditions in the immediate post-pandemic period, which was characterized by widespread port and terminal congestion, triggering a wave of terminal upgrade and expansion projects.
While M&A remains a key driver of capacity increases for GTOs, greenfield developments are also back in favor, especially in emerging markets.
In total, 14 GTOs have one or more greenfield projects in their development pipeline. Four operators – CMA CGM, Adani, MSC and AD Ports – are projected to add greenfield capacity of three mteu or more by 2029.
Emerging markets remain the favored location for greenfield projects – with two or more GTOs investing in terminal developments in Vietnam, Egypt, India and Morocco.
In mature markets, meanwhile, GTOs typically invest to expand and upgrade existing assets, with upsizing of the global container ship fleet remaining a key driver of capital expenditure. Ongoing advances in terminal operating systems, including use of artificial intelligence, are also supporting GTOs to switch to higher intensity yard systems such as automatic stacking cranes.
READ: Drewry’s container port throughput index down slightly in Sept
