JUNE 2026 
TOP 100 CONTAINER PORTS 
43
Ranked #1 Most
Productive Port 
in North America
Two Years in a 
Row
1According to the 2024 Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) released by the World Bank Group and S&P 
Global Market Intelligence.
Ship Philly First.
www.philaport.com
This recognition reflects the dedication of 
everyone who keeps the port moving — 
from the men and women on the front lines 
at PhilaPort’s Packer Avenue Marine 
Terminal to our carriers, logistics teams,
and partners across the region.
Thank you to our entire port community
for helping Philadelphia lead the way
once again.
cargoes. In some ways the bulk 
conveyance system is one of a 
number of TPA’s assets that has 
flown under the radar — after all 
when you can announce a bil-
lion-dollar MSC (TiL) container 
terminal, or Amazon’s $125 
million plus facility or the $80 
million plus that Under Armour 
(UA) dropped on their facility 
— in the public’s eye, a bulk 
conveyance system doesn’t rise 
to the same level as these other 
big name investments do. 
But TPA’s conveyance system 
harkens back to a core concept 
for Sparrows Point logistics site 
— facilitating the movement of 
all types of cargo, and keeping 
industry in motion. Operating a 
bulk and breakbulk terminalis 
a central feature of the overall 
vision the TPA has for the devel-
opment of the 75-acre bulk area, 
located in the southeast peninsula 
of the property. After all Spar-
rows Point began as a steel mill 
processing the bulk commodities 
that come with steelmaking. As 
Managing Director Kerry Doyle 
said of the reasoning behind 
improving the efficiency of the 
bulk cargo operations, “our stra-
tegic plan was to leverage our 
strategic location and highly con-
nected assets and invest heavily 
into a modern multi-commodity 
terminal operation.” 
TPA has done that by stand-
ing up Tradepoint Terminal, 
which operates TPA’s bulk, 
breakbulk and vehicle logistics 
terminal. It is also worth noting 
that the Port of Baltimore itself 
has a long history of handling 
bulk and breakbulk commod-
ities, such as coal, grains for 
export, salt, sugar, gypsum, iron 
ore, and fertilizer on the import 
side. What the new conveyor 
system does is optimize the 
movement of bulk cargo from 
the vessel to the land-side stor-
age and land-side movement to 
destination. And besides extend-
ing TPA’s reach, the conveyor 
system complements the bulk 
niche that the Port of Baltimore 
has established for drawing bulk 
commodities from the US East 
Coast for import and export.
The bulk conveyor system 
is an illustration of the breadth 
of Tradepoint Atlantic’s ongo-
ing expansion. Just as the future 
container terminal and all the 
logistics assets currently lodged 
at the 3,300-acre site show TPA 
is an expanding multi-faceted 
city of logistics unlike any other 
on the US East Coast.
Schmidt also says the rail link 
could service imports as it “allows 
us [an] opportunity… our priori-
ties will be for exports…and if it’s 
full running exports, great, but if 
there’s any slack time, or changes 
in the growing seasons… we can 
do imports as well. We can do 
some of those customers we’ve 
had in the past — if [it isn’t] …
interfering with the export process. 
We can do imports.”
And while the grain trans-
load facility is a major “win” 
for grain producers in Maryland, 
Delaware, and Pennsylvania, it 
is also a significant win for the 
Port of Baltimore itself as it is a 
win for the terminal, ocean car-
riers, truckers and the railroads 
and indirectly all the stakehold-
ers using the port.
(CITY – continued from page 26)
(NOVEL – continued from 
page 24)
the refineries in Rotterdam are 
operating at full capacity,  this 
could lead to increased exports.”
For the container sector, 
“the impact of the closure of 
the Strait of Hormuz is limited. 
Direct container traffic to and 
from the Middle East accounts 
for 1.2% of the total volume. 
The indirect effects of the  war 
on the container sector could 
have a much greater impact 
through economic downturn and 
falling purchasing power.”
The cargo sector impacts 
were as follows:
• Dry bulk. Drybulk, for the 
first quarter, fell by 4.3%. The 
biggest “decline (20.9%) was in 
the throughput of agribulk.” 
• Coal. Coal volumes “fell by 
9.8% compared with the first 
quarter of 2025. This was mainly 
due to a decline in the through-
put of energy coal following 
exceptionally high production 
levels in 2025. In the first quar-
ter of 2026, production returned 
to its usual level.” 
• Iron Ore. The volume of iron 
ore and scrap metal: “increased 
by 5.3% compared with last 
year. This growth is in line with 
the slight upturn in German 
steel production in the first 
quarter. German electrosteel 
production rose by 2.5% in 
early 2026.” 
• Scrap exports. Scrap exports via 
Rotterdam were slightly lower. 
• Liquid bulk. The volume of 
liquid bulk rose by 2.2% in the 
first three months of this year. 
• Crude oil. Crude oil volume 
“rose by 1.7% to 25.2 million 
tons. Refining margins in Jan-
uary and February were simi-
lar to those in 2025. In March, 
they rose sharply following 
price  increases for crude oil 
and petroleum products caused 
by the blockade of the Strait of 
Hormuz in late February.” 
• Mineral Oil. Volumes of min-
eral oil products (petrol, diesel, 
kerosene, 
etc.) 
was 
10.3% 
higher than in 2025: “It is strik-
ing that exports of oil prod-
ucts rose whilst imports fell. …
There has also been an increase 
in exports of gas oil / diesel to 
Spain and Gibraltar. This maybe 
because the Mediterranean is 
now an Emission Control Area 
(ECA), where the sulphur con-
tent of bunker fuel must not 
exceed 0.1%. 
• LNG. LNG volumes increased 
by 1.7% compared with 2025: 
“The low temperatures at the 
start of the year have led to 
higher consumption,  and so 
more imports are needed to 
replenish stocks. 
• Other liquid bulk. Other liquid 
bulk fell by 7.2%. The decline: 
“is particularly evident in chem-
ical products and can be partly 
attributed to lower production 
levels in Germany during Jan-
uary and February. This always 
has an impact on the throughput 
of raw materials and finished 
products in Rotterdam.”
Containers and Breakbulk
• Containers. Container volumes 
posted a slight gain: 0.3% higher 
in TEUs than in the first quarter 
of 2025: “Volumes are lower 
than expected due to an update to 
(VOLUMES – continued from 
page 40)
the Terminal Operating System 
at one of the major container 
terminals.” However, “through-
put in tonnes fell by 3.2%. This 
is due to the sharp 14% rise in 
exports of empty containers, par-
ticularly to Asia. The number of 
full containers on the Asia trade 
route also increased. Throughput 
volumes remain under pressure 
and fell by 26%. It is expected 
that throughput volumes will 
only recover once the container 
terminal expansions have been 
completed. The volume of inland 
containers rose sharply by 11%. 
This growth is driven primar-
ily by Asia and North America, 
due to larger call sizes and an 
expanded range of services.” 
• Breakbulk. Breakbulk vol-
umes “fell by 1.5%. Markets 
related to the automotive, con-
struction and machinery sectors 
are still under pressure. As a 
result, the throughput of alumi-
num and steel has fallen.’ 
• RoRo. RoRo volumes rose 
slightly by 1.6% as a result of 
the modest economic recovery 
in the United Kingdom.”

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