Top 10 box port operators 2025
01 / Peter Voser, PSA International
Singapore’s PSA International, led by chairman Peter Voser, holds onto its number one crown in the box port stakes for yet another year.
PSA continued to strengthen and future‑proof its global infrastructure in 2024–25, achieving major milestones across several regions. At Tuas Port, the world’s largest automated container terminal, launched in 2022, throughput has surpassed 10m teu as the group continued its mammoth task of switching over its domestic operations to its new flagship facility.
PSA is advancing on a series of global expansion projects and long‑term concessions that reinforce its role as a leading port operator, the most notable in Türkiye, Colombia and Saudi Arabia.
Growth of 7.3% in its attributable volumes across 2024 helped PSA maintain its healthy lead at the top of the box port rankings, as its closes in on becoming the first operator to eclipse the 70m teu mark.
02 / Feng Boming, China Merchants Ports
China Merchants Port Holdings has retained its runner‑up position in the global container port rankings for a second consecutive year, having overtaken fellow state‑owned operator Cosco Shipping Ports.
Although its rapid overseas expansion has slowed, CMPorts’ extensive global footprint has enabled the group to capitalise on regional growth and pursue organic development.
Today, CMPorts operates a terminal portfolio spanning 46 ports across 26 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania and the Americas. Domestically, it maintains a comprehensive network across China’s key coastal hubs, including the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Rim.
Since early 2023, the company has been led by chairman Feng Boming, formerly of Cosco.
03 / Zhu Tao, Cosco Shipping Ports
Cosco Shipping Ports secured third place in the global rankings, completing an Asian triumvirate at the top despite only moderate volume growth across its vast terminal portfolio in 2024.
However, the group, which manages or operates more than 200 berths worldwide, has been linked to the unresolved sale of CK Hutchison’s port assets. CSP executives have remained coy on such reports, but a stake in the eventual sale would provide the Chinese giant with even greater clout in the sector.
In declining to comment, CSP, led by chairman Zhu Tao, has instead emphasised that its focus will continue to be on overseas expansion.
CSP’s growth strategy targets Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa — regions expected to deliver strong trade momentum. Such moves not only broaden CSP’s global network but also support Beijing’s mandate to safeguard China’s supply chain security.
04 / Keith Svendsen, APM Terminals
Maersk’s terminal operating arm APM Terminals remains Europe’s premier port outfit off the back of a stellar performance at its facilities in 2024.
The Hague-headquartered group posted the highest accumulative growth in box business on the prior year among its peers at the top end of the sector rankings.
There is also little to suggest that the Maersk subsidiary will have its continental crown toppled any time soon.
While organic growth is set to be boosted by the wider group’s strategy to push carrier-affiliated volumes through APMT hubs — in line with the modus operandi of its east-west trade coalition with Hapag-Lloyd — the operator has made significant strides in expanding its global footprint.
New ventures over the past 12 months include those in Croatia, Bangladesh and India.
Keith Svendsen has held the top role at Europe’s largest container port operator since mid-2022.
05 / Eric Ip, Hutchison Port Holdings
Hutchison Port Holdings, led by group managing director Eric Ip, props up the global container port sector’s top five, though its position among the elite appears to be nearing an end.
A pioneer of the international terminal scene — its move into Felixstowe in the early 1990s marked the first foreign foray by any of today’s global operators — the Hong Kong-headquartered firm now looks set to divest its overseas interests.
In March 2025, CK Hutchison revealed it had entered talks to sell an 80% stake in Hutchison to a BlackRock-led consortium of buyers, including Mediterranean Shipping Co, in a deal valued at $22.8bn.
The proposed transaction covers controlling interests in 43 ports across 23 countries, comprising 199 berths, along with HPH’s management resources, operating systems, IT platforms, and other assets tied to port operations.
Since the proposed sale came to light, Beijing has pushed to include Cosco as part of the deal to safeguard Chinese interests. Negotiations continue.
If completed, the sale would represent the largest transaction in container port history, with its outcome expected to dominate industry headlines in the months ahead.
06 / Diego Aponte, MSC
MSC, the world’s largest container line, continues to climb the port sector rankings with no sign of slowing its expansion.
The group’s rise to sixth place is driven largely by its acquisition of a 49.9% stake in German operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG.
Its split from former alliance partner Maersk on the east-west trades is also expected to accelerate progress, as MSC channels more cargo through its own affiliated terminals as a predominantly solo operator.
The bigger story, however, is MSC’s involvement in the potential sale of CK Hutchison’s terminal portfolio.
Although its $22.8bn joint bid with BlackRock stalled, the Hong Kong-based seller is seeking to revive the deal by bringing in a Chinese investor — most likely Cosco.
Should the transaction go through, MSC would make a dramatic leap up the rankings almost overnight, even if it ends up with a smaller stake than initially proposed.
07 / Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DP World
Dubai-based operator DP World slips back a couple of places in the latest teu count, losing its status as a top five operator in the process.
Equity attributable volumes in 2024 remained relatively unchanged once more, extending the trend of flat volume growth of recent years.
Drewry noted that this development — or lack thereof — has come largely off the back of the group’s decision to monetise key assets, including its flagship Jebel Ali terminal, investing these funds to grow its shipping and logistics businesses.
There is no suggestion, however, that the operator is taking a backseat on the terminal expansion and acquisition front, revealing medium-term plans to increase its box port capacity to as much as 100m teu.
Over the past 12 months, DP World has invested heavily in the expansion of facilities in the UK, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, to name a few, while fresh terminal ventures include an $800m investment in Syria, as one of a number of companies capitalising on the trade opportunities provided by the country upon the lifting of Western sanctions.
08 / Rodolphe Saadé, CMA CGM
CMA CGM’s terminal business heads up what is widely regarded as the second tier of port operators, with DP World some 30m teu-plus ahead on the equity share of volumes count.
Under chief executive Rodolphe Saadé, the French giant’s port business moved up a rung on the sector ladder, to eighth place, having allocated significant funding in the advancement of its port business, which has elevated capacity from just over 12m teu at the end of 2020 to more than 30m teu come the end of 2025.
With CMA CGM reaping the rewards of a post-Covid cash injection, it has continued where it left off in 2024 with a series of eye-catching deals in the ports sector, including its own investment in Syria, plus deals in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.
This, of course, also follows the biggest acquisition in the Marseille-based company’s history in the form of its $5.3bn takeover of Bolloré Logistics — a deal that will add significant business to its affiliated terminals while elevating CMA CGM to a top five operator among global 3PLs.
09 / Enrique K Razon Jr, ICTSI
Manila‑based International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) has slipped one place in the global rankings, overtaken by CMA CGM, despite reversing the previous year’s volume losses with solid throughput growth.
Led by Filipino billionaire Enrique K Razon Jr, who serves as both chairman and chief executive, ICTSI oversees a portfolio of 33 terminals across 19 countries on six continents.
The independent operator has been relatively quiet on new terminal investments over the past 12 months, focusing instead on upgrading and expanding capacity at existing facilities, including its flagship Manila facility, but also in Australia, Mexico and Poland.
One notable addition to its portfolio will be Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 in South Africa, after ICTSI’s tender bid was upheld in court following a protracted legal dispute with rival operator APM Terminals.
10 / Robert Yüksel Yildirim, Yilport
Robert Yüksel Yildirim-led Yilport maintained its spot among the box port top 10 operators on 2024’s volume count, having finally joined the industry’s elite players last time out.
The milestone marks the fulfilment of a longstanding ambition of the Turkish company and its billionaire industrialist owner, who also holds a 24% stake in CMA CGM.
Although the group is still a considerable way off its rival among the second tier of operators, the group should stave off the competition below it on 2025’s numbers, with the group reporting double-digit growth in box traffic at the halfway stage.
This list is part of the Lloyd’s List One Hundred People 2025 (Edition 16) that will be published from December 8
The Top 10 box port operators ranking is based on the equity share of global terminal teu volumes in 2024 derived from data provided by London-based consultants Drewry
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