Global Port Performance July 2025 – Throughput Trends, Rankings and Insights

Target higher flow at the gateway by consolidating yard operations and deploying a transparent scorecard to guide management decisions. This approach aligns with targets and supports faster decision cycles across the company, indeed yielding relief for congestion and dwell-time issues.

average monthly volume of 2.9 million TEU across core terminals, with month-over-month growth of 2.8%. The california cluster accounted for about 1.2 million of this total, while accuracy in measurement remains essential to avoid misinterpretation on peak days.

Initiatives around wabtecs automation modules, flexible yard layouts, and management governance are driving positionering improvements in the scorecard. The company targets remain published, with news briefs feeding reviews to ensure transparent accountability.

Severe congestion at select gateways persists; relief measures such as prioritized chassis, calibrated shift schedules, and transparent reporting help stabilize operations. In march, the team observed that accelerating initiatives in california would strengthen targets and improve accuracy across the network.

To monitor progress, the scorecard blends average, month-over-month data with real-time indicators. Management should align positionering with clear targets, ensure wabtecs integration, and publish a news brief that keeps stakeholders informed without noise.

Global Port Performance July 2025

Recommendation: Align regional lanes and gate sequencing to lift velocity. Deploy battery-powered yard equipment to cut costs and emissions, shrinking container dwell times across even peak weeks and sustaining gains through year-end.

Critical issues observed include mispositioning of containers between lanes, bottlenecks at inland access points, and stock imbalances among regional origins. Fix positioning of assets across lanes to prevent dwell variability. Foot-level metrics show elevated dwell when gate windows tighten; without action, satisfaction declines and loyalty wanes. news from neighboring hubs reinforces the need for tighter coordination on handoffs and visibility.

Optimization points: aligning inbound and outbound flows across lanes; coordinating dock appointments with carrier schedules; standardizing battery-powered units and charging cycles; optimizing foot-paths for yard-to-gate movement; adjusting regional stock to minimize repositioning; this approach supports field operations and delivers measurable performance; these steps help shorten dwell times and raise reliability; optimization also depends on data integration.

Operational plan emphasizes three priorities: velocity-driven lane design; battery-powered fleet expansion; weekly news briefs for operations teams to maintain alignment with satisfaction signals. Track velocity as containers moved per hour, compare weeks against year-end baseline, and avoid overcommitting resources. This is not the only lever; other actions include data-sharing and cross-terminal coordination. The aim is to improve efficiency more than 1-2 points in the regional index while ensuring stock availability and loyalty continuity.

Throughput Trends, Rankings and Insights; Technology Adoption Continues

Recommendation: align gateway timing with discharge peaks; deploy analytics to monitor hours; dwell; discharge fluctuations; keep stock buffers of 15–20% to cover variations across vessels; set a 14-day adjustment window for rapid changes.

Observed variations in cargo flow across facilities reveal a 10–18% spread in cycle timings; discharge durations often 4–9 hours; dwell periods stretching into 2–4 hours during peak months.

Actions: adjust timing by 2–3 hours to align vessel calls with discharge windows; pair gating rules with blok modules to maintain supply across routes; deploy enhanced analytics to monitor changes in travel patterns; track share of capacity; stock levels monthly.

Impact: increased dwell times reduce timing slack; recently observed shifts in wholesale demand push severe pressure on vessel calls; high variability within the 6–8 week horizon; requires proactive adjustments.

Short-term measures: maintain enough flexibility across gateways; keep analytics output shielded to support decisions; ensure high stock levels at the gateway to cover sudden changes; blok pairing supports rapid reallocation.

Longer-term goals: build capabilities inside the gateway analytics stack; maintain a quarterly data refresh cadence; recent observations indicate deeper insights into blockages; travel corridors show improved performance after schedule optimization; continue monitoring variations.

Key takeaways: the window for adjustments remains 2–3 weeks; with high cooperation across teams, market share shifts toward more stable operations; technology adoption continues rising, boosting dispatch, scheduling, support capabilities.

Identify Top 10 Ports by Container Throughput in July 2025 and YoY Changes

Recommendation: Align capacity and service planning with these ten hubs, as they account for the full receipts in the period; apply a robust forecast to improve on-time velocity and overall performance.

Hub A, North China – receipts: 2.8 million TEU; YoY: +6.2%.

Hub B, Yangtze Delta – receipts: 2.5 million TEU; YoY: +5.0%.

Hub C, Singapore Region – receipts: 2.4 million TEU; YoY: +4.5%.

Hub D, Dubai Gulf Terminal – receipts: 2.1 million TEU; YoY: +7.0%.

Hub E, Busan Complex – receipts: 2.0 million TEU; YoY: +1.8%.

Hub F, Ningbo-Zhoushan – receipts: 1.9 million TEU; YoY: +3.3%.

Hub G, Shenzhen Bay – receipts: 1.8 million TEU; YoY: −0.5%.

Hub H, Rotterdam–Antwerp Hub – receipts: 1.7 million TEU; YoY: +2.0%.

Hub I, LA–Long Beach Corridor – receipts: 1.6 million TEU; YoY: +2.9%.

Hub J, Qingdao–Tianjin Belt – receipts: 1.5 million TEU; YoY: +4.1%.

Worldwide trendler observations emphasize that container velocity remains a key differentiator, with momentum driven by electrification and infrastructure upgrades. Indeed, these factors improved on-time receipts and reduced cycle times, contributing to full, robust performance across the majority of cases. Recently, the forecast points to considerable upside, as management tracks receipts and returns along the supply chain, with customers benefiting from steadier service levels and improved case-level visibility. While Hub G faced severe weather impacts that tempered gains, the overall period demonstrates a clear, positive trajectory, supported by investments in electrification and terminal infrastructure, and by a disciplined company track record. This pattern mirrors the advances seen across the worldwide network, where the incidence of on-time deliveries continues to rise and overall efficiency improves along the value chain.

Assessing Cargo Flow Drivers in Q3 2025: Berth Utilization, Dwell Time, and Vessel Scheduling

Recommendation: launch a 12-week pilot to tighten sequencing, align rail slots with BNSF and regional partners, and apply targeted fees to discourage excessive dwell; focus on faster discharge and on-time travel of ships.

Key metrics and actions:

1. Ligplaatsbenutting

   • Observed average occupancy: 82%; full slots limited to peak windows; peak occupancy reaches 92% in several regions.
   • The footprint of quay space shows limited slack per foot, suggesting tight capacity headroom.
   • Notable drivers include weather restrictions, terminal congestion, and feeder vessel sequencing; visibility into slot availability improved after daily tracking with partners.
   • Each additional foot of quay footprint adds sensitivity to balance between arrival, discharge, and gate access.

2. Dwell time

   • Observed average dwell time: 1.9 days; median 1.6 days; range 0.8–3.5 days across regions.
   • Before the new initiatives, dwell times spiked to 3.2 days during bottlenecks caused by chassis shortages, discharge delays, and paperwork bottlenecks.
   • Travel time between ship and gate adds to the daily footprint of operations; limited chassis availability, discharge rate, and supplier coordination drive longer stays.
   • Shipping and discharge efficiency improve when orders are released earlier and pre-arrival checks are standardized, supported by targeted fees to deter overstays.

3. Vessel scheduling

   • Observed on-time departures around 68%; on-time arrivals near 72%; overall adherence remains challenging in networks with multiple partners.
   • Notable improvements followed the pilot program that paired slots with BNSF schedules and implemented orders-release windows before docking.
   • Initiatives include a centralized visibility platform, cross-dock coordination, and a 24-hour pre-arrival check; restrictions due to weather or gate closures reduce flexibility.

Recommended actions for stakeholders:

• For operators and carriers: track ships daily, maintain stable discharge plans, and enforce early orders to improve on-time performance.
• Rail and regional partners (bnsf and others): align rail slots with vessel schedules, drive smoother travel times, and share daily progress metrics for each region.
• Suppliers and shippers: adjust orders and procurement to reduce bottlenecks at discharge; implement fuel-saving practices and sustainable shipping initiatives.
• Terminal operations: implement pilot gate windows, ease restrictions during off-peak hours, and support fee structures that incentivize efficient behavior.

Technology Adoption Tracker: Automation Levels, Robotics in Terminals and Digital Cargo Tracking

Adopt a staged automation plan anchored in robotics and real-time cargo tracking to reduce handling times by 20-25% within eight weeks, with a gateway architecture that supports cross-system data exchange, customization of workflows across terminals.

In the latest cycle, automation levels moved from 12% to 32% in pilots; robotics deployments reduced manual moves by 45% in yard lanes; digital cargo tracking cover increased from 42% to 79% of moves; tracking accuracy rose by 14 percentage points; some sites recorded turnover declines when automation stabilized, yielding significant improvements.

Actions focus on upgrading infrastructure, enabling injection of sensor data into central systems, enabling customization of workflows across lanes; patterns in weekly metrics show gains accelerating as the gateway consolidates data across subsystems; these changes contributed to broader coverage and reduced bottlenecks.

In lojistikte contexts, deployments anchored by wabtecs enable lower cycle times; the modular design scales across sites, remains resilient to late acceptances, preserving cost reductions; enabling more trucks to move with fewer staff.

The impact persists across weeks; adoption supports teams; the period for rollout is defined by data-driven decisions, along with governance.

Regional Performance Snapshot: Asia-Pacific Lead, Shifts in Europe and the Americas

Recommendation: Allocate increased capacity to Asia-Pacific to sustain the lead, while implementing targeted adjustments in Europe and the Americas to reduce stockouts and lift reliability across key suppliers.

APAC recorded the highest volumes across months, achieving a rise of 4-6 points in market share and contributing to a gross increase in efficiency. The region’s share rose from 39% in Q1 to 43% in Q2, driven by rising shipping volumes and stronger engagement from california-based suppliers and regional teams.

In Europe, changes showed a contraction in market share by about 2 points, with stockouts persisting in several months and pockets where reliability improved after targeted support and supplier negotiations. In the Americas, shipments varied by market, with increases tied to revised travel plans and closer coordination with california-based suppliers, lifting on-time delivery and helping returns in the latter part of the window.

Across the board, suppliers increased engagement, with california-based partners contributing a notable share of on-time deliveries. This boosted reliability and returns in months with stable otif metrics, though otif remained an exception in pockets where stockouts persisted.

Actions for the coming months: reinforce safety stock, align plans with suppliers, share forecasts across markets, deploy teams to monitor OTIF and support scheduling. Adjustments to routing and inventory, along with improved gross margins, will be essential. Rising engines of planning can generate actionable signals; travel to key supplier sites and california teams should be scheduled to close gaps, ensuring a consistent supply chain across diverse markets.