St. Kitts and Nevis: Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2020, St. Kitts and Nevis' container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) fell 0.5% on 2019 (from 13,629 to 13,560).

Across the 9 yearly changes before that (2011 to 2019), the average change was +37.3% and a typical year strayed about 106.7% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 321.3% in 2014 and the biggest yearly fall was 12.5% in 2012. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2011 to 2020 the straight-line trend is upward, about 1,368 a year. A straight line explains 66% 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

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to St. Kitts and Nevis in the 2020 ranking

• Syrian Arab Republic — 2nd of 6: 243,348
• Switzerland — 3rd of 6: 114,075
• Paraguay — 4th of 6: 37,901
• Dominica — 6th of 6: 7,401

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 11 values

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

• Antigua and Barbuda — 28,000 (2024)
• Argentina — 1.47 million (2024)
• Aruba — 64,800 (2024)
• Bahamas, The — 1.54 million (2024)
• Barbados — 101,300 (2023)
• Belize — 21,279 (2023)
• Brazil — 13.89 million (2024)
• British Virgin Islands — 45,956 (2019)
• Cayman Islands — 46,658 (2024)

More infrastructure data for St. Kitts and Nevis

• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 55,592 (2023)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 118.89 (2023)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 15,602 (2022)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 33.4 (2022)
• ICT service exports (BoP, current US$) — US$1.89 million (2025)
• ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP) — 0.36% (2025)
• Individuals using the Internet (% of population) — 76.88% (2024)
• Scientific and technical journal articles — 35.5 (2023)
• Fixed broadband subscriptions — 21,834 (2022)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is St. Kitts and Nevis's container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)?

13,560 in 2020, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2010?

It is up 374.89% from 2,856 in 2010 (16.86% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 13,767 in 2017 and the lowest 2,665 in 2012.

Is the latest change in container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) unusual for St. Kitts and Nevis?

In 2020, St. Kitts and Nevis' container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units) fell 0.5% on 2019 (from 13,629 to 13,560). Across the 9 yearly changes before that (2011 to 2019), the average change was +37.3% and a typical year strayed about 106.7% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

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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