Shanghai Port Breaks 2025 Throughput Record but Faces Global “Complexity Trap”

The Port of Shanghai posted record container throughput in 2025, but the world’s busiest port is now caught in what Sea-Intelligence terms a “Complexity Trap” – a structural ceiling on schedule reliability that sheer scale appears to impose.

Analysis of 75 major global ports by the Danish consultancy found Shanghai clustered in the mid-50% reliability range despite its unmatched connectivity. The findings suggest that once network complexity exceeds a certain threshold, the volume of connections creates systemic drag that makes it difficult to break through the 60% reliability barrier – well below the 70-83% achieved by “Efficiency Frontier” ports such as Rotterdam and Dalian.

Shanghai International Port Group reported the port handled 55.06m teu in 2025, up 6.9% from 51.5m teu in 2024, securing a 16th consecutive year as the world’s busiest container port. The port operates nearly 350 international shipping services connecting more than 700 ports in over 200 countries and regions, and has ranked first globally for port connectivity for 13 consecutive years according to SIPG.