Lloyd’s List Top 100 Container Ports 2026: Why resilience beats scale

This episode of the Lloyd’s List podcast is brought to you by Veson. To find out more visit www.veson.com FIFTEEN years ago, Somali piracy was one of the biggest stories in mainstream news, not just shipping. That may be hard to fathom today, with threats stretching from the Gulf and Red Sea to the Black Sea, which has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for seafarers in recent weeks. Yet between 2010 and 2012, Somali pirates hijacked almost 100 vessels, according to the International Maritime Bureau. By 2013, that number had fallen to zero and remained there through 2016. In fact, just two major commercial vessels were hijacked between 2013 and 2023. What was once the biggest risk to commercial shipping was successfully repelled through international cooperation, but in recent months there is evidence to suggest that Somali piracy is once again on the rise. Six commercial vessels have been hijacked since the start of 2026, including sanctioned Sibu 1 which was hijacked in late August. Rather chillingly, the crew changed its location on its automatic identification system to “pirates onboard help”. The increase in attacks is concerning, but suspicious approaches and occasional hijackings have occurred periodically over the past few years. Many were viewed as isolated incidents, often attributed to a single pirate group acquiring a mothership and exploiting an opportunity. Is this a proper resurgence? Is Somali piracy really back? Joining Joshua on the podcast this week are: Vice Admiral Ignacio Villanueva Serrano, Eunavfor Operation Atalanta Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer, Bimco

In previous editions of the Lloyd’s List Top 100 Container Ports, scale has been king. The more boxes you can handle, the higher up the rankings you will be. But in 2026, the ability to adapt, solve problems and present carriers with alternatives in an age where the shocks keep on coming is proving almost as important as the number of cranes you have available. Deputy editor Linton Nightingale talks through the key takeaways from this year’s rankings, including why the geography of container shipping is shifting and why one simple decision from a major carrier can make or break a port’s fortunes.

This episode of the Lloyd’s List podcast is brought to you by Wirana THERE is plenty of risk in the tanker market today. The Strait of Hormuz, Red Sea and Black Sea have become very dangerous places to operate vessels, but for those who take the risk on, the rewards are substantial. Lloyd’s List senior reporter Greg Miller speaks to International Seaways chief executive officer Lois Zabrocky and chief financial officer Jeffrey Pribor to understand how they choose to deploy their fleet of 64 crude and product tankers. How much is too much risk? And How is this tanker cycle different from the last supercycle we saw in the 2000s? Listen to find out.

This episode is brought to you by Wirana This second episode of a year-long series by the Middle East Vice President and Green Recycling Coordinator at the Singapore-based cash buyer Wirana, Hitesh Vyas, reflects on market developments and outlines the possibility of a significant change in the EU’s attitude to Asian recycling yards.

SHIPOWNERS have stopped asking when the strait of Hormuz is going to open. Instead, they’re asking if it will open by the end of the year, or even further into the future. Military escalation might have ceased for a variety of reasons, but the situation has settle into somewhat of a stalemate. The US wants to avoid the conflict getting hotter, especially before the upcoming elections, while Iran might well think time is on its side in this particular battle. Which begs the question: where are the off-ramps coming from? To answer that question, we’re bringing you highlights of our weekly webinar, in which our analysts discuss the volume and type of traffic passing through the chokepoint, as well as how the Chinese market is assessing the risk in the middle east right now. Joining editor-in-chief Richard Meade on the podcast this week are: • Bridget Diakun, maritime intelligence and research director, Lloyd’s List Intelligence • Cichen Shen, maritime intelligence director – APAC, Lloyd’s List Intelligence • Dina Arakji, analyst, Control Risks

IN 1956 the SS Ideal X sailed from New Jersey to Houston with 58 containers on board, marking the birth of modern commercial container shipping. Malcom McClean’s vision of unitized, efficient and relatively cheap global freight has evolved into a global network, criss-crossing the world’s oceans to connect businesses with consumers across continents. Has there been a more important innovation in global trade? What would Malcom McClean say if he walked into a modern container terminal? And is the everyday consumer aware of just how much their lives have been changed by the development of the shipping container? Joining Joshua on the Lloyd’s List podcast are: Joe Kramek, chief executive, World Shipping Council Henning Morgen, group historian, Maersk

SHIPPING is attempting to navigate three distinct, but increasingly overlapping conflicts at present. The resumption of Houthi violence in the Red Sea can be added to the ongoing Strait of Hormuz crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war in the Black Sea. This episode of the Lloyd’s List podcast brings you highlights from our weekly webinar, chaired by editor-in-chief Richard Meade, in which we discussed whether the Houthis really have the power or capability to attack ships en masse again, plus our senior reporter Greg Miller gives a comprehensive overview of how the tanker market is responding to the crises. Joining Richard on the podcast are: Bridget Diakun, maritime intelligence and research director, Lloyd’s List Greg Miller, senior reporter, Lloyd’s List Ian Ralby, founder, IR Consilium

IT’S been years of waiting and lobbying, but we finally have Europe’s proposals for how the EU Emissions Trading System will look beyond 2030. The European Commission has released its long list of proposals for how to reform the cap-and-trade scheme, including how much shipping pays, and how much of the proceeds it gets back. Shipowners, like most European businesses, have to buy and surrender credits called allowances for each tonne of carbon they emit. The industry reckons it will pay about 90 billion euros into the scheme between 2030 and 2040, and it wants that money reinvested in decarbonisation. To remedy that, the European Commission wants to include earmarking 110 million allowances in a mechanism called Sustainable Maritime Alternative Propulsion, or SMAP, to subsidise low and zero-emission fuels. That’s about ten billion euros, give or take. It will crack down on evasive port calls by including some 20 more neighbouring non-EU ports in the schem. And it will also cover smaller vessels, with the minimum gross tonnage limit lowered from 5000 to just 400. Are the revisions fair? Has shipping got what it’s asked for? To find out, Lloyd’s List senior editor Declan Bush is joined by: Sotiris Raptis, secretary general of European Shipowners Simon Bergulf, vice president for environment and climate, World Shipping Council Delphine Kaczorowski, EU advocacy manager, Opportunity Green

SHIPPING has another hotspot to worry about, and it’s a familiar one. Reports that the Houthis were preparing to attack commercial shipping were proven correct after at least one Saudi-linked vessel was attacked in the Red Sea yesterday. This week’s podcast comes from Lloyd’s List’s weekly webinar, which usually focusses on the Strait of Hormuz, but this time also looks at the impact of violence resuming in the Red Sea and where vessels that have already been diverted once would go to then. Joining Joshua on this week’s episode are: Bridget Diakun, maritime intelligence and research director, Lloyd’s List Matthew Rajendra, senior reporter, Lloyd’s List Crystal Chan, principal analyst, Infospectrum Listen to this week's webinar here: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/5431828/8E1ADBE115D62A0FD8046D6F13A32E5A

LESS than a month after its introduction, the US revoked General License X, the waiver allowing the sale and transport of Iranian oil granted in the wake of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries. Lloyd’s List editor-in-chief Richard Meade and maritime risk analyst Tomer Raanan speak to several sanctions experts to find out if the short-lived waiver benefitted anyone, and why it will take more than just a stroke of the pen to undo decades of legislation aimed at crippling the Iranian economy. Joining the podcast this week are: • Claire O'Neill McCleskey, co-founder, Clarity Consultancy • Claire Grunewald, co-founder, Clarity Consultancy • Leigh Hansson, partner, Reed Smith