Over the next five years investment in container port capacity is expected to tumble following coronavirus-induced global trade slowdowns.

According to the latest Global Container Terminal Operators Annual Review and Forecast report published by Drewry, container port capacity expansion will contract by at least 40% over the next five years in the wake of COVID-19 economic contractions that have hit container trade volumes.

The shipping consultant expects global container terminal capacity to grow at an average annual rate of 2.1% over the next five years, equating to an additional 25 million TEU per year.

“This is well below the capacity growth seen over the past decade, when the average annual increase was more than 40 million TEU a year,” noted Drewry.

Port throughput is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 3.5% over this period from 801 million TEU in 2019 to reach 951 million TEU by 2024.

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