SIMIC

The new record exceeded July's 3.9 million TEU and making Shanghai the first container port to exceed the 4 million TEU mark in a single month.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 at the beginning of the year, the Chinese economy has rebounded from the second quarter, and this has been felt in container volumes, which have only continued to soar, according to media reports.

The growth in Shanghai's container volume mirrors similar overall growth in China's cargo volumes, which in total was up nearly 16 per cent at the major ports in October. Total container volume at China's largest seaports was up nearly 20 per cent in October.

The strong volume growth has contributed to the reports by the largest shipping lines of both a strong rebound in business as well as a dramatic tightening of availability or in some cases already being fully booked during the peak shipping season.

Many of the world's ports are reporting that they are no longer seeing blank sailings but are being asked to accommodate unscheduled additional arrivals as the carriers add sailings to their schedules.

In 2019, Shanghai's total container throughput totalled 43.3 million TEU, a year-on-year increase of 4 per cent, and making the port the biggest container port in the world for the tenth year in a row.

In 2010, Shanghai port overtook the Port of Singapore to become the world's busiest container port, and there has been no looking back since then.