Global trade is growing. The capacity it needs doesn’t stop at the quay
A container terminal can handle more cargo than ever before and still leave its customers waiting. Larger vessels and more efficient shipping networks have transformed how goods move across oceans. But the roads, railways and inland connections behind many ports have not kept pace. For much of the past 15 years, investment in landside infrastructure ...
Global trade is expanding, yet the infrastructure supporting it often lags behind. Larger vessels and more efficient shipping networks have changed how goods travel across oceans, but ports' inland connections have not kept pace. This gap has become more apparent as geopolitical changes, shifting trade routes, and a strong demand for cargo have emerged. Ports' capacity and the capacity of the supply chain they serve are two different figures.
Europe's Northern ports handled around 46 million TEU last year, using nearly all of their capacity. By 2030, they need room for at least 53 million TEU, and by 2035, 62 million. In Africa, some ports need entirely new capacity while others must better utilize existing infrastructure. The obvious solution is to build more capacity, but it's not that simple.
Ports and supply chains are two separate entities, and a common oversight is to focus only on the former. Ports are built over decades based on assumptions about cargo origins and destinations. When cargo flows change, infrastructure struggles to keep up. Much of the world's older port infrastructure was designed for a different era of ships.
Modernizing port infrastructure while maintaining cargo movement can be challenging, particularly in Europe, where many ports were built for a different generation of vessels. Even if we speed up the quay, if nothing changes beyond it, we've simply moved the bottleneck to the gate.
Terminal operators can optimize their operations, but ultimately, the pressure on ports will continue to increase. By 2030, over 900 container vessels above 15,000 TEU are expected to be in service, double the current number. Each vessel brings thousands of containers into a port within a short window, and they all need to move through the same gates, rail terminals, and roads.
The pressure doesn't end at the quay. In many ports, the tightest constraint is now the channel that limits vessel access, the rail connection that can't accommodate more cargo, or the road network already at its limit. Upgrading the quay without addressing these issues only moves the bottleneck downstream.
Improving terminal capacity and inland connections together can yield significant results. In Rijeka, Croatia, a gateway opened a year ago with improved terminal and inland connections, reducing truck turn times to an average of 15 minutes and connecting the gateway to Serbia, Hungary, and Austria. This capacity benefits businesses across Central Europe, not just the terminal.
Investment in networks pays off when the broader system develops at the same pace. In Rotterdam, a 1,000-meter deep-sea berth extension at Maasvlakte II, doubling the length, is being added. In Spain, investments in new capacity are being made. Germany's Bremerhaven will receive around €1 billion in investments, depending on the improvement of access through the Weser.
None of these improvements work if terminal operators, governments, and infrastructure providers plan independently. Planning the whole chain together, ensuring channels, rail, and roads are sequenced with terminal capacity rather than added later, is crucial. Making permitting predictable, particularly for modernization projects at terminals, and matching long-term commitments with long-term certainty is essential. Building more capacity matters, but ensuring it works together is even more important.
Written by urgent.news from Hellenic Shipping News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
