The Eurozone debt crisis however is expected to put a damper on global economic recovery, with world port throughput growth this year estimated to slow to 7%. This in turn will lead to a widening gap between developed and developing countries, the institute said. For example throughput at European ports Rotterdam and Antwerp is expected to grow by about 5% this year.

Chinese ports continue to lead the world in throughput growth, accounting for six of the world's top 10 container ports last year. Shanghai maintained the top spot for the second consecutive year with 31.7m teu. Interspersed with just Singapore (2^nd) with 29.9m teu and Hong Kong (3^rd) with 24.2m teu, mainland ports Shenzhen, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Qingdao took fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth spots.