COSCO Shipping Ports, the port terminal division of the Chinese shipping conglomerate COSCO Shipping, has presented its operational and financial results for the 2025 fiscal year, highlighting a 6.2% year-on-year growth in total container traffic, which reached 152,994,965 TEUs. This figure consolidates the company's position as one of the largest port operators in the world, although gross profit experienced a slight decline of 0.3% to 415.5 million dollars.
In a statement, the company based in Hong Kong acknowledged that the port and shipping market faced pressures in 2025 arising from the slowdown in global trade growth, tariff adjustments, trade protectionism, and geopolitical uncertainties. COSCO Shipping Ports attributes the maintenance of its operational capacity and competitiveness to the efficient management of its operations and the optimization of resources and processes.
In terms of traffic breakdown, total equity throughput — which reflects COSCO Shipping Ports' proportional participation in total volumes — grew by 3.4% year-on-year to 46,850,076 TEUs. The traffic at terminals where the group holds controlling stakes increased by 1.8% to 33,246,933 TEUs, representing 21.7% of the total. Meanwhile, terminals where the company does not exercise control recorded an increase of 7.5% to 119,748,032 TEUs, equivalent to 78.3% of total volume.
The terminals located in China, which account for 75.1% of the group’s total traffic, handled 114,836,474 TEUs in 2025, 4.6% more than in the previous year. Among the Chinese ports with the best performance is Guangzhou, with an increase of 7.9% to 6,025,563 TEUs, followed by Dalian, which grew by 2.2% to 5,393,205 TEUs, and Xiamen, with a rise of 4.1% to 2,679,812 TEUs. Notably, the Wuhan terminal recorded a jump of 31.8% to 323,624 TEUs. The southwestern coastal region of China experienced a year-on-year growth of 11.6% to 10,063,000 TEUs, accounting for 6.6% of the group’s total.
COSCO Shipping Ports' international terminals exhibited remarkable dynamism, with an increase of 11.5% to 38,158,491 TEUs, representing 24.9% of the company’s total traffic. However, performance was uneven among different facilities. The container terminal at Piraeus (Greece), one of the group’s main investments in Europe, recorded a decline of 6% to 3,976,713 TEUs. In contrast, the terminal in Zeebrugge (Belgium) experienced a significant increase of 33.1%, reaching 894,227 TEUs.
In financial terms, COSCO Shipping Ports' annual revenue amounted to 1.669 billion dollars, reflecting an increase of 11% compared to the previous year. However, sales costs grew at a faster rate, by 15.4% to 1.253 billion dollars, explaining the slight contraction of gross profit by 0.3% to 415.5 million dollars. The share of profits from associated companies and joint ventures rose by 7.3% to 343.4 million dollars. The profit attributable to the company’s shareholders increased by 1.1% to 312.1 million dollars.
Looking ahead, COSCO Shipping Ports has indicated that it will prioritize the optimization of its global port network under the principle of 'expanding internationally while deepening domestic efficiency'. The company plans to accelerate the construction of a terminal network that integrates developed and emerging markets, new and existing terminals, and hub and access ports. Key facilities in its strategy include the ports of Chancay (Peru), Piraeus, and Abu Dhabi, where the operator seeks to improve service levels, infrastructure, and investments in digitalization and low carbon initiatives. The company is also considering the expansion of feeder networks and the development of logistics corridors with the goal of ensuring that all the group’s terminals operate in an interconnected manner.