Morocco's container ports grew fastest of the world's top 40
Container port throughput, growth 2014 to 2024, the 40 economies handling the most containers in 2014. UNCTAD.
- 1. Mexico, not China, now sells America the most goods
- 2. China's ASEAN trade is now almost double its US trade
- 3. America's duty-free parcels grew almost tenfold in nine years
- 4. Mexico's factories now outproduce Britain's and France's
- 5. The UAE sold more goods abroad than France in 2025
- 6. The EU now buys more US gas than Russian gas
- 7. Malaysia again sells more to America than to China
- 8. Brazil mines 93% of the world's niobium
- 9. More Vietnamese now work in industry than on farms
- 10. Indonesia set to use more palm oil than it exports
- 11. Factories now make more of Cambodia's economy than China's
- 12. China now buys more from Brazil than from Germany
- 13. Kazakhstan now sells Russia more than Germany does
- 14. China fell to third among America's suppliers in 2025
- 15. America overtook China as Taiwan's biggest export market
- 16. Mongolia's coal exports hit a record 90 million tonnes
- 17. Viet Nam's ports now handle more containers than Japan's
- 18. Liberia overtook Panama as the biggest flag by ship capacity
- 19. Nickel made Indonesia the world's fifth-biggest iron and steel exporter
- 20. Mexico again hosts more US investment than China
- 21. Mexico replaced China as America's top computer supplier
- 22. France fell from first to third among Côte d'Ivoire's suppliers
- 23. Wigs are nearly half of what North Korea sells China
- 24. Viet Nam overtook China as Morocco's top smartphone supplier
- 25. China became the top electric car supplier in 21 countries
- 26. Indonesia became America's biggest solar panel supplier
- 27. 21 countries now buy more from China than from Russia
- 28. China's share of world cotton imports halved, to a fifth
- 29. Morocco's container ports grew fastest of the world's top 40
- 30. China now supplies almost two-thirds of lithium-ion battery imports
Morocco's container traffic, 2014 to 2024: from 4.1 to 11.8 million TEU, the fastest growth of the 40 biggest port economies.
Morocco's place among all economies UNCTAD reports, 2014 vs 2024. It passed Egypt, Africa's other big hub, in 2021.
Morocco's ports sit on the Strait of Gibraltar, where routes between Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas cross: a new stop on the world's shipping map.
the numbers & method
| Growth 2014–2024 (%) | Million TEU, 2024 (m TEU) | 2014 (grey bar) (m TEU) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morocco | 189 | 11.8 | 4.1 |
| Viet Nam | 158 | 24.4 | 9.5 |
| India | 105 | 23.9 | 11.7 |
| Mexico | 83 | 9.3 | 5.1 |
| Türkiye | 62 | 13.5 | 8.4 |
| China | 60 | 299.7 | 187.3 |
| Sri Lanka | 59 | 7.8 | 4.9 |
| Colombia | 52 | 5.2 | 3.4 |
| Philippines | 48 | 9.2 | 6.2 |
| Brazil | 47 | 13.9 | 9.4 |
| Egypt | 23 | 8.6 | 7.0 |
| Germany | -16 | 13.3 | 15.8 |
| Hong Kong | -39 | 13.7 | 22.3 |
Claim types Fact · Interpretation
UNCTAD, UNCTADstat US.ContPortThroughput (version 10003, last updated 14 Apr 2026), container port throughput in TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units), all ports of each economy, read from the UNCTADstat API via the progrss vault (GUIDELINES §4.11; source unctadstat, 14 value checks matched, none mismatched). Set: the 40 economies with the highest throughput in 2014, fixed before ranking growth; all 40 report 2024. Million TEU, 2014 → 2024: Morocco 4.08 → 11.79; Viet Nam 9.47 → 24.42; India 11.65 → 23.90; Mexico 5.07 → 9.28; Türkiye 8.35 → 13.51; China 187.29 → 299.70; Sri Lanka 4.91 → 7.78; Colombia 3.41 → 5.19; Philippines 6.22 → 9.22; Brazil 9.44 → 13.89; Egypt 6.98 → 8.58; Germany 15.84 → 13.29; Hong Kong 22.30 → 13.69. World 672.2 → 920.3 (+37%); median of the 40: +27%. Morocco 2019: 6.07; 2023: 9.96. Morocco passed Egypt in 2021 (8.45 vs 7.23). Ranks 33rd (2014, of 127 reporting economies) and 20th (2024, of 104): fewer economies report in recent years, but every economy ranked above Morocco in 2024 also reports in 2014. Growth figures are progrss calculations. Throughput counts every box lifted on or off a ship, so a box moved between two ships (transshipment) counts twice; part of the growth of hub ports is such transshipment. Takeaway 3 is Interpretation. UNCTADstat data: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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