Liberia: Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)

Key figures

Over five years it is up 15.76% from 79,000 in 2014 (2.97% a year on average, compounded). Since 2010 it is up 71.26% from 53,400 in 2010 (6.16% a year on average, compounded).

What the numbers say

In 2019, Liberia's container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) fell 23% on 2018 (from 118,750 to 91,454).

Across the 8 yearly changes before that (2011 to 2018), the average change was +11.9% and a typical year strayed about 18.5% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.9 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 43.1% in 2012 and the biggest yearly fall was 23% in 2019. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2010 to 2019 the straight-line trend is upward, about 6,671 a year. A straight line explains 67% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2019, Liberia had the 10th highest value of the 32 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Liberia in the 2019 ranking

• Solomon Islands — 7th of 32: 128,036
• Maldives — 8th of 32: 107,728
• Somalia, Fed. Rep. — 9th of 32: 92,238
• Mauritania — 11th of 32: 84,458
• Sierra Leone — 12th of 32: 78,413
• Vanuatu — 13th of 32: 77,436

What this measures

Port container traffic measures the flow of containers from land to sea transport modes, and vice versa, in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a standard-size container. Data refer to coastal shipping as well as international journeys. Transshipment traffic is counted as two lifts at the intermediate port (once to off-load and again as an outbound lift) and includes empty units.

Limitations: Measures of port container traffic, much of it commodities of medium to high value added, give some indication of economic growth in a country. But when traffic is merely transshipment, much of the economic benefit goes to the terminal operator and ancillary services for ships and containers rather than to the country more broadly. In transshipment centers empty containers may account for as much as 40 percent of traffic. Data cover coastal shipping as well as international journeys. Transshipment traffic is counted as two lifts at the intermediate port (once to off-load and again as an outbound lift) and includes empty units.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a sum.

All 10 values

Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) in nearby economies

• Angola — 709,221 (2024)
• Benin — 510,896 (2019)
• Cabo Verde — 89,382 (2024)
• Cameroon — 350,000 (2024)
• Comoros — 54,359 (2019)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 42,211 (2019)
• Congo, Rep. — 1.05 million (2024)
• Côte d'Ivoire — 1.8 million (2024)
• Equatorial Guinea — 13,851 (2019)
• Gabon

More infrastructure data for Liberia

• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 1.72 million (2022)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 32.06 (2022)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 6,254 (2022)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 0.12 (2022)
• Individuals using the Internet (% of population) — 32.23% (2024)
• Scientific and technical journal articles — 31.54 (2023)
• Liner shipping connectivity index (maximum value in 2004 = 100) — 6.56 (2021)
• Secure Internet servers — 73 (2024)
• Secure Internet servers (per 1 million people) — 13.01 (2024)
• Fixed broadband subscriptions

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Liberia's container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)?

91,454 in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2010?

It is up 71.26% from 53,400 in 2010 (6.16% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 125,000 in 2017 and the lowest 53,400 in 2010.

How does Liberia rank?

10th highest of 32 economies with data for 2019.

Is the latest change in container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) unusual for Liberia?

In 2019, Liberia's container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) fell 23% on 2018 (from 118,750 to 91,454). Across the 8 yearly changes before that (2011 to 2018), the average change was +11.9% and a typical year strayed about 18.5% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.9 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IS.SHP.GOOD.TU, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), uri: http://unctad.org/en/Pages/statistics.aspx Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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