Chinese ports hold steady in June

According to Japan International Freight Forwarders Association (JIFFA), port operations at China’s major gateways remained steady through June, even as global counterparts, particularly in Europe and the U.S., saw efficiency slip, based on new figures from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE).

SSE’s latest operational snapshot of the world’s top 20 container ports, ranked by 2022 throughput, reveals that Chinese ports continue to hold firm despite external pressures such as mounting U.S. tariffs.

Across nine key Chinese ports, the average port stay in June clocked in at 1.51 days, with vessels spending an average of 0.85 days berthed. That’s a modest year-on-year rise of 6.3% and 1.2%, respectively.

Additionally, for the first half of 2025, Chinese ports averaged 1.5 days per port stay and 0.87 days at berth, slight increases of 4% and 0.5% over the previous year, signaling a broadly stable operating environment amid high outbound container volumes.

By contrast, the world’s other leading ports, including key hubs in Europe and North America, struggled with longer turnaround times. In June, average port stays among the 11 non-Chinese ports stretched to 2.4 days, with berthing times averaging 1.82 days.

Europe faced particular headwinds. Unseasonably high temperatures lowered river water levels, disrupting logistics networks and complicating operations at some inland and coastal terminals.

Additionally, Rotterdam reported a 2.7% year-on-year rise in average port stays to 2.27 days, while Antwerp’s average jumped 38.7% to 2.65 days compared to June last year, although that figure was down 1.5% from May.

Also, in the U.S., congestion continued to plague the West Coast. Los Angeles saw port stays increase by 5.3% year over year to 4.17 days. Long Beach fared worse, with port stays climbing 32.5% to 4.73 days.

On the flip side, Kaohsiung in Taiwan registered the shortest port stay in June, at just 0.86 days, a 7% drop from May. Moreover, Hong Kong followed closely at 0.9 days (down 12.5%), with Guangzhou holding steady at 0.98 days.

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