Strong growth in earnings for global terminal operators has led to a surge in capital investment

Global port throughput volumes in 2025 demonstrated remarkable resilience, rising 6.5% YoY to 994 mteu, despite challenging geopolitical conditions. As a group, the global terminal operators (GTOs) outperformed the global market, increasing their equity-adjusted volumes by an average 8.9% YoY, which increased the GTOs’ share of the global market from 48.8% in 2024 to 49.9% in 2025.

The top spot in the equity-adjusted rankings has been retained by PSA International, with an equity-adjusted throughput of 69.9 mteu, up 5.3%.

Eight of the 19 operators that qualify as GTOs in 2025 achieved double digit growth in equity-adjusted throughput, with recent entrants AD Ports and Adani and major hybrid operators CMA CGM, MSC Group, APM Terminals and Hanseatic Global Terminals continuing their aggressive growth trajectory from last year.

With relatively few privatisation opportunities remaining, we identify that container terminal concessions are entering a new maturity cycle as long-term agreements awarded during the port privatisation waves of the late 1990s and early 2000s are now approaching the end of their initial concession tenure. Given this, many GTOs are proactively managing their portfolio maturity and working closely with concessioning authorities well ahead of renewals to align objectives.

While M&A deals have continued apace, geopolitical fragmentation has seen the rise of regulatory protectionism to delay and even block major deals, clearly illustrated by the stalemate situation that has emerged from the TiL-BlackRock bid for Hutchison Ports’ international portfolio. Financial investors remain committed to the sector, with Macquarie taking a 50% stake in Australia’s Patrick Stevedores via its acquisition of Qube, and Stonepeak setting up a new platform–United ports LLC–with CMA CGM, which will acquire a portfolio of CMA Terminal assets.

Eleanor Hadland, author of the report and Drewry’s senior analyst for ports and terminals said: “While monetisation of terminal assets is not a new strategy, CMA CGM’s deal with Stonepeak demonstrates further that partnership can generate win-win outcomes for investors and operators.”

Capital investment across the sampled companies was up 23% in 2025, with GTOs focusing on growing their portfolios, upgrading existing infrastructure and expanding their automation and digital capabilities. GTOs are projected to add a combined 186 mteu capacity to their portfolios between 2025 and 2030, but there is an element of double- counting in these figures due to the joint ownership structures across the sector.

Greenfield projects are also firmly back on the agenda, accounting for 23% of the projected net increase in GTO portfolio capacity. Four operators—MSC Group, CMA CGM, Adani and HGT—are projected to add greenfield capacity of 4 mteu or more by 2030, with the first two each adding over 8 mteu. It is no coincidence that these two are ‘hybrid’ operators, wholly- or majority-owned by carriers, which are much better placed to guarantee volumes for greenfield developments due to matched ownership.

Breakdown of forecast GTO capacity increases by investment type, 2025-2030

Only a few GTOs are assessed to be truly global, and Drewry notes that size, shipping line affiliation and ‘first-mover’ advantage are the key determinants of a GTO’s geographic reach. DP World and MSC Group have terminal investments in all 10 world regions, while four GTOs (APM Terminals, Hutchison Ports, CMA CGM and ICTSI) operate in nine world regions. PSA, which topped the equity-league table in 2025, operates in eight world regions, with no terminal assets in Africa or Oceania; China Cosco Shipping and Evergreen operate in seven world regions. Although there was no change in the geographic scope of operations for any of the GTOs between 2024 and 2025, for several of the GTOs, recent M&A activity and greenfield investments have strengthened their positions in key markets.

Across the industry, decarbonisation of operations is the most pressing environmental issue. All 19 companies featured in the global operator league tables have published a commitment to achieve net zero, with the timeline varying between 2040 and 2060. There is a broad consensus on the pathway to decarbonisation of terminal operations, focusing initially on improving the efficiency of operations (to reduce overall energy consumption) and over time switching to lower carbon fuel (primarily renewable electricity).