Euro area - Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)

The value for Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) in Euro area was 95,093,600 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 20 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 98,627,380 in 2019 and a minimum value of 39,584,680 in 2000.

Definition: Port container traffic measures the flow of containers from land to sea transport modes., and vice versa, in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a standard-size container. Data refer to coastal shipping as well as international journeys. Transshipment traffic is counted as two lifts at the intermediate port (once to off-load and again as an outbound lift) and includes empty units.

Source: UNCTAD (http://unctad.org/en/Pages/statistics.aspx)

See also:

Year Value
2000 39,584,680
2001 41,083,980
2002 45,368,890
2003 49,496,500
2004 56,463,580
2005 60,340,710
2006 64,608,720
2007 76,781,740
2008 77,334,460
2009 67,115,460
2010 71,740,130
2011 79,014,080
2012 80,945,540
2013 83,026,230
2014 86,741,410
2015 85,977,340
2016 88,579,510
2017 93,538,420
2018 97,407,680
2019 98,627,380
2020 95,093,600

Development Relevance: Transport infrastructure - highways, railways, ports and waterways, and airports and air traffic control systems - and the services that flow from it are crucial to the activities of households, producers, and governments. Because performance indicators vary widely by transport mode and focus (whether physical infrastructure or the services flowing from that infrastructure), highly specialized and carefully specified indicators are required to measure a country's transport infrastructure. The sea transport industry a vital engine of global socio-economic growth. It is of vital importance for economic development, creating direct and indirect employment, supporting tourism and local businesses, and stimulating foreign investment and international trade. Economic growth, technological change, market liberalization, and oil prices affect sea transport throughout the world.

Limitations and Exceptions: Measures of port container traffic, much of it commodities of medium to high value added, give some indication of economic growth in a country. But when traffic is merely transshipment, much of the economic benefit goes to the terminal operator and ancillary services for ships and containers rather than to the country more broadly. In transshipment centers empty containers may account for as much as 40 percent of traffic. Data cover coastal shipping as well as international journeys. Transshipment traffic is counted as two lifts at the intermediate port (once to off-load and again as an outbound lift) and includes empty units. Data for transport sectors are not always internationally comparable. Unlike for demographic statistics, national income accounts, and international trade data, the collection of infrastructure data has not been "internationalized."

Statistical Concept and Methodology: TEU is the standard unit, referring to 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container. The size of cargo containers range from 20 feet long to more than 50 feet long. The international measure is the smallest box, the 20-footer or 20-foot-equivalent unit (TEU). Two twenty-foot containers (TEUs) equal one FEU. Container vessel capacity and port throughput capacity are frequently referred to in TEUs. 2015 and 2016 figures comprise estimates for countries where current year statistics were not available. In these cases, estimates include averages and extrapolations from previous years' data.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Infrastructure Indicators

Sub-Topic: Transportation