Viet Nam's ports now handle more containers than Japan's
Container port throughput, million TEU (20-foot boxes), all ports of each economy, 2015–2024. UNCTAD.
- 1. Mexico, not China, now sells America the most goods
- 2. China's ASEAN trade is now almost double its US trade
- 3. Central banks now hold more gold than Treasuries or euros
- 4. China now pays the world mostly in yuan
- 5. Migrants now send home four times all foreign aid
- 6. Tether now holds more US Treasuries than the UAE
- 7. Developing countries' interest bill has nearly tripled since 2010
- 8. America's duty-free parcels grew almost tenfold in nine years
- 9. Poles edge past the Japanese in income per person
- 10. In dollars, Nigeria's economy has more than halved since 2014
- 11. Argentina's monthly inflation fell from 25.5% to 1.9%
- 12. Guyana now produces more per person than America
- 13. Mexico's factories now outproduce Britain's and France's
- 14. Ukraine received four times the aid of any other country
- 15. The UAE sold more goods abroad than France in 2025
- 16. Singapore now draws twice as much foreign investment as China
- 17. The EU now buys more US gas than Russian gas
- 18. Malaysia again sells more to America than to China
- 19. 22 governments now owe more than a year's national output
- 20. Brazil mines 93% of the world's niobium
- 21. More Vietnamese now work in industry than on farms
- 22. Money sent home to Guatemala nearly quadrupled in ten years
- 23. In purchasing power, Russia's economy is now bigger than Japan's
- 24. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
- 25. Factories now make more of Cambodia's economy than China's
- 26. China now buys more from Brazil than from Germany
- 27. Kazakhstan now sells Russia more than Germany does
- 28. China fell to third among America's suppliers in 2025
- 29. Colombians abroad now send home more than foreigners invest
- 30. 72 countries now pay China more than it lends them
- 31. Pakistan rose to first place in Chinese energy finance
- 32. America overtook China as Taiwan's biggest export market
- 33. Mongolia's coal exports hit a record 90 million tonnes
- 34. Viet Nam's ports now handle more containers than Japan's
- 35. Money sent home now tops half of Tajikistan's economy
Containers (TEU) handled by Viet Nam's ports in 2024, up 16% in one year. In 2023 Japan still led, 21.5m to 21.1m.
Viet Nam's world rank in 2024, after passing India, the UAE and Japan. Japan slipped from 7th in 2015 to 9th.
Viet Nam's port traffic since 2015, against +4% for Japan: Asia's box-trade growth is going to its newer factory hubs.
the numbers & method
| Year | Viet Nam (m) | Japan (m) |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 10.6 | 21.1 |
| 2016 | 11.3 | 21.7 |
| 2017 | 12.4 | 22.8 |
| 2018 | 13.4 | 23.4 |
| 2019 | 15.3 | 23.3 |
| 2020 | 16.4 | 21.6 |
| 2021 | 19.8 | 22.4 |
| 2022 | 20.5 | 22.5 |
| 2023 | 21.1 | 21.5 |
| 2024 | 24.4 | 21.9 |
Claim types Fact · Interpretation
UNCTADstat dataset US.ContPortThroughput (container port throughput, annual, TEU), read from the UNCTADstat data API (unctadstat-api.unctad.org/datamart-api/US.ContPortThroughput/cur/Facts). TEU = twenty-foot equivalent units; totals cover all ports of each economy and include transhipment. Viet Nam, TEU: 2015 10,615,391; 2023 21,069,746; 2024 24,423,183. Japan: 2015 21,094,824; 2023 21,499,023; 2024 21,886,683. India: 2023 22,208,000; 2024 23,898,000. United Arab Emirates: 2023 21,531,172; 2024 23,466,906. 2024 world ranks among economies: China 299.7m, United States 59.7m, Singapore 41.1m, Republic of Korea 31.9m, Malaysia 30.7m, Viet Nam 24.4m (6th), India, UAE, Japan (9th). Japan ranked 7th in 2015; Viet Nam was below the top ten. Charted in millions. Ranks, growth rates and ratios are progrss calculations. Takeaway 3's reading of the shift is an Interpretation; UNCTAD names no cause.
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