When you look at the above image, sailing the ocean, even on a container ship, looks like a pretty chilled affair.

That is until you dock at one of the world’s busiest ports. According to Visual Capitalist, an estimated 90% of world trade is facilitated by maritime shipping.

As trade volumes continue to increase, ports grow larger and more efficient to meet growing demand.

Recent data from the World Shipping Council provides some insight into the world’s busiest and biggest ports, depicted for you here using some handy graphs and tables.

It’s probably not a massive surprise to see that Shanghai’s port is the busiest in the world, and by quite some margin:

In the table below, volume is measured in millions of twenty-foot equivalent units:

As you can see from the above, only five of the top 20 ports in the world are located outside of East Asia. Today, trade is more likely than ever to flow through the South China Sea.

From dollar store knick-knacks to nuclear reactor components, China’s manufacturing output is a critical link in the global supply chain. Getting all those products to consumers and companies around the world is big business, and over the past decade, China has emerged as the heavyweight champion of world shipping.

At the start of this millennium, Hong Kong and Singapore were home to the busiest ports in the world. Today, both are facing increased competition from neighbouring ports, as well as declining volumes:

Comparatively, the port of Shanghai saw a 71% increase over the course of the last decade, along with a number of other Chinese ports.

While it’s relatively interesting to read about what happens at shipping ports, and the sheer volume of what passes through them, you really don’t want to know too much of the ins and outs if you’re in the shipping business.

Best to leave that to the professionals, right? Established in 1963, Berry & Donaldson are one of South Africa’s largest private forwarding and clearing agents, with branches in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Hong Kong.

They will assist you as an importer or exporter in your dealings with airlines, shipping companies, and customs related processes as well as warehousing, insurance and cargo deliveries.

In other words, everything from purchase through to delivery, so that you can focus on other important areas of business.

Their experienced and professional team negotiates with contractors and pays all duties, taxes and rates for you when buying or selling cargo to ensure that your best interests are protected.

Shipping sorted.

[source:visualcapitalist]