Among the global top ten ports in terms of container throughput, seven are located in China, including Shanghai Port and three Shenzhen ports, according to a report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

In 2017, the total volume of goods in global maritime trade increased by 4% from the previous year to approximately 10.7 billion tons. Since falling to about 7.9 billion tons in 2009 due to the financial crisis, it has shown rapid growth. In 2018, it is expected to maintain a 4% increase, but the "trade war" in the US and China is becoming a destabilising factor.

The global container throughput after conversion to TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit, a measure of container storage) was approximately 752 million cases, an increase of 6% from the previous year. Due to the expansion of trade between Asian countries and the strong demand in Europe and the United States, Asia's throughput accounted for 64% of the total, followed by Europe with 16% and North America with 8%.

The throughput of Shanghai Port is about 40.2 million TEUs, followed by Singapore with about 33.7 million. There are 15 ports in the world with more than 10 million TEUs. Japan’s ports failed to rank among the top 20.

It is said that the global maritime industry is increasingly competitive due to the accelerated integration and the increasing size of cargo ships, and China’s ports may therefore be forced to continue to upgrade in order to retain their  highly competitive position.