Yokohama port in Japan has been ranked as the most efficient
port in the world in a new index in which Asian ports dominate.
The new global Container Port Performance Index (CPPI),
launched by the World Bank and IHS Markit, ranks Yokohama ahead of King
Abdullah Port in Saudi Arabia and Qingdao in China.
Yokohama Port Corporation data show that in 2019, the port
handled more than 32,000 ships with a gross tonnage of nearly 300 million. The
port’s container cargo throughput stood at 2.9 million TEU.
The index finds that Asian container ports are the most
efficient in the world, dominating the Top 50 spots.
Despite being the highest ranked European port Algeciras in
Spain is at position 10 in the index. Colombo in Sri Lanka is the top-ranked
port in South Asia at 17th place and Mexico’s Lazaro Cardenas leads the
Americas at 25th.
Canada’s Halifax is the only other North American port in
the Top 50. Djibouti, in 61st place, is the top-ranked African port.
“The development of high-quality and efficient container
port infrastructure is a key contributor to successful, export-led growth
strategies both in developing and developed countries,” said Martin Humphreys,
World Bank Lead Transport Economist.
He added that efficient ports also ensure business
continuity and improve the resilience of the maritime gateways as crucial nodes
in the global logistical system.
The index, the first of its kind, is a comparison of global
container port performance that is intended to identify gaps and opportunities
for improvement in container port operations.
The index scored ports against different metrics, making the
efficiency ranking comparable around the globe by assessing and standardizing
for different ship sizes and container moves per call. It is based on total
port hours per ship call, defined as the elapsed time between when a ship
reaches a port to its departure from the berth having completed its cargo
exchange.
Greater or lesser workloads are accounted for by examining
the underlying data within ten different call size ranges. Five distinct ship
size groups are accounted for in the methodology, given the potential for greater fuel and emissions
savings on larger vessels.
The index indicates that key port performance metrics such
as minutes per container move show large discrepancies in global port
efficiency. While top performers such as Yokohama take just 1.1 minutes on
average to load or unload a container in a standard port call, the average for
equivalent workloads in African ports is more than three times that at 3.6
minutes.
“Inefficient port operations have a very direct impact on
supplies across the country and their populations. During the Covid-19 pandemic
we saw port delays causing shortages of essential goods and higher prices,”
noted Turloch Mooney, IHS Markit Maritime and Trade Associate Director. He
added that over the longer term, port bottlenecks can mean slower economic
growth, higher costs for importers and exporters and even resulting in less
employment.
More than four-fifths of global merchandise trade by volume
is carried by sea, and approximately 35 percent of total volumes and over 60
percent of commercial value is shipped in containers.