Marshall Islands: Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)

Key figures

Over five years it is up 17.36% from 26,168 in 2014 (3.25% a year on average, compounded). Since 2010 it is up 55.9% from 19,700 in 2010 (5.06% a year on average, compounded).

What the numbers say

In 2019, Marshall Islands' container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) fell 56.2% on 2018 (from 70,146 to 30,711).

Across the 8 yearly changes before that (2011 to 2018), the average change was +23.1% and a typical year strayed about 36.5% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 66.3% in 2013 and the biggest yearly fall was 56.2% 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 4,182 a year. A straight line explains 42% 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, Marshall Islands had the 25th 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 Marshall Islands in the 2019 ranking

• Northern Mariana Islands — 22nd of 32: 44,952
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 23rd of 32: 42,211
• Faroe Islands — 24th of 32: 31,214
• Guinea-Bissau — 26th of 32: 28,700
• Micronesia, Fed. Sts. — 27th of 32: 25,234
• Palau — 28th of 32: 16,399

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

• American Samoa — 76,200 (2019)
• Australia — 9.58 million (2024)
• Brunei Darussalam — 99,000 (2023)
• Cambodia — 1.03 million (2024)
• China — 299.7 million (2024)
• Fiji — 145,782 (2019)
• French Polynesia — 84,772 (2022)
• Guam — 190,200 (2019)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 13.69 million (2024)

More infrastructure data for Marshall Islands

• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 15,913 (2022)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 39.71 (2022)
• Individuals using the Internet (% of population) — 65.92% (2024)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 1,693 (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 29,502 (2023)
• Scientific and technical journal articles — 0.92 (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 0.41 (2023)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 1,947 (2022)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 4.86 (2022)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

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

30,711 in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2010?

It is up 55.9% from 19,700 in 2010 (5.06% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 74,194 in 2017 and the lowest 19,700 in 2010.

How does Marshall Islands rank?

25th highest of 32 economies with data for 2019.

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

In 2019, Marshall Islands' container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) fell 56.2% on 2018 (from 70,146 to 30,711). Across the 8 yearly changes before that (2011 to 2018), the average change was +23.1% and a typical year strayed about 36.5% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

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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