Can Disruption Create More Container Trade?

The same demand can create more container moves.

Disruption should hurt container trade.

Routes get longer.

Costs go up.

Supply chains get less efficient.

Yet the world’s Top 100 ports handled ~790m TEU in 2025.

That was 6.3% more than a year earlier.

Global container trade also kept growing in H1 2026.

So why are more containers moving through a less efficient system?

And is all that growth really new demand?

Here are 5️⃣ signals behind it:

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1️⃣ Cargo often moves somewhere else