News
Total container volumes imported to and exported from Japan’s 64 international container ports shrank 0.3% in 2019 from the previous calendar year to 18,853,994 TEUs, according to the Harbor Modernization Promotion Committee. As for full containers, 8,845,668 TEUs were imported to Japan, up 0.6%, and 5,836,056 TEUs were exported, down 4.2%.
Combined container throughput at the Big Five ports (Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe) waned 0.9% to 14,179,457 TEUs. In contrast, the combined volume of containers processed at the seven other major ports (Kawasaki, Chiba, Shimizu, Yokkaichi, Shimonoseki, Kitakyushu and Hakata) improved 1% to 2,297,478 TEUs. In total, 16,476,935 TEUs were handled at the abovementioned 12 ports, down 0.6%, which accounted for 87.4% of the total. As such, the balance 2,377,059 TEUs were moved to and from the remaining ports (local ports), up 2.3%, indicating that sluggishness at the Big Five led to the decrease in the total container lifting.
Breaking down imports of loaded containers, the Big Five ports were responsible for 6,735,020 TEUs, down 0.4%; the seven other leading ports, 1,054,229 TEUs, up 3.2%, for a total of 7,789,249 TEUs, up 0.1%. The local ports handled 1,056,419 TEUs, up 4.7%. Looking more closely at exported full containers, 4,495,793 TEUs were shipped out of the five, down 3.8%; 720,662 TEUs out of the seven, down 5.1%. In total, 5,216,455 TEUs were exported from the 12, down 4%. Meanwhile, 619,601 TEUs were carried from the local ports, down 5.8%.
