SHANGHAI HAS overtaken Singapore as the world’s largest cargo port, after handling 443 million tons last year, almost 17% more than in 2004, according to the Shanghai Port Admin Bureau quoted in eyefortransport.com. The port’s No. 3 ranking in the world’s top container ports remains unchanged. Shanghai handled 18.08 million TEUs last year, 24.3% more than in 2004, but still less than Hong Kong and Singapore. Foreign trade accounted for 185 million tons of Shanghai’s port traffic, up 16.8% from the previous year. Exports were up 24.5% to 84 million tons; imports were up 11.1% to 101 million tons. The first phase of Shanghai’s Yangshan Deep-Water Port went into operation in December 2005, with the five additional berths expanding the port’s annual capacity by more than 2 million TEUs.
