List of busiest ports in Europe explained

The table below lists 20 of the busiest ports in Europe; Rotterdam currently ranks first here, and eleventh in the world by cargo tonnage. For ferries, transport vehicles like heavy trucks are included using their full weight, while passenger cars are not counted as cargo.

Top 20 ports of Europe by annual cargo tonnage

Port	Country	City/Cities	Body of Water	Tons	Year
Port of Rotterdam		Rotterdam	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[1]
Port of Antwerp-Bruges		Antwerp, Bruges	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[2]
Port of Novorossiysk		Novorossiysk	Black Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[3]
Port of Hamburg		Hamburg	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[4]
Port of Ust-Luga		Ust-Luga	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Algeciras		Algeciras	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022^[5]
Port of Constanța		Constanța	Black Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[6]
		Le Havre, Rouen, Paris	English Channel		style=text-align:left	2023^[7]
Port of Gdańsk	Poland	Gdańsk	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[8]
Port of Valencia		Valencia	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[9]
Port of Marseille		Marseille	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[10]
Port of Bergen		Bergen	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[11]
Port of Barcelona		Barcelona	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[12]
Port of Genoa		Genoa	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[13]
Port of Primorsk		Primorsk	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Amsterdam		Amsterdam	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[14]
Port of Murmansk		Murmansk	Barents Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Trieste		Trieste	Adriatic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[15]
Port of London		London	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[16]
Port of Immingham		Immingham, Grimsby	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Saint Petersburg		Saint Petersburg	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023

Busiest container ports

The table below lists 20 of the busiest container ports in Europe with the containers counted in TEU.

Top 20 ports of Europe by annual containers TEU

Port	Country	City/Cities	Body of Water	Containers TEU	Year
Port of Rotterdam		Rotterdam	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Antwerp-Bruges		Antwerp, Bruges	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Hamburg		Hamburg	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Valencia		Valencia	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022^[17]
Port of Algeciras		Algeciras	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Bremerhaven		Bremerhaven	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Piraeus		Piraeus	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Gioia Tauro		Gioia Tauro	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Barcelona		Barcelona	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Felixstowe		Felixstowe	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Genoa		Genoa	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[18]
		Le Havre, Rouen, Paris	English Channel		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Gdańsk		Gdańsk	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Southampton		London	English Channel		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of London		London	North Sea		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Sines		Sines	Atlantic Ocean		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Marseille		Marseille	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Las Palmas		Las Palmas	Atlantic Ocean		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Koper		Koper	Adriatic Sea		2023^[19]
Port of Klaipėda		Klaipėda	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[20]

Busiest passenger ports

The table below lists 20 of the busiest passenger ports in Europe.

Top 20 ports of Europe by annual number of passengers

Port	Country	City/Cities	Body of Water	Passengers	Year
Port of Messina		Messina	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022^[21]
Port of Dover		Dover	English Channel		style=text-align:left	2023^[22]
Port of Reggio		Reggio Calabria	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Helsinki		Helsinki	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[23]
Port of Piraeus		Piraeus	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Tallinn		Tallinn	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[24]
		Palma de Mallorca	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
		Stockholm	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2023^[25]
Port of Paloukia-Salamina		Paloukia, Salamina	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Perama		Perama	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Helsingborg		Helsingborg	Øresund		style=text-align:left	2023
Port of Helsingør		Helsingør	Øresund		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Mġarr		Mġarr	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Naples		Naples	Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife		Santa Cruz de Tenerife	Atlantic Ocean		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Ċirkewwa			Mediterranean Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Calais		Calais	English Channel		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Puttgarden		Puttgarden	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Split		Split	Adriatic Sea		style=text-align:left	2022
Port of Rødbyhavn		Rødbyhavn	Baltic Sea		style=text-align:left	2022

Other large ports in Europe

Albania

• Port of Durrës
• Port of Vlorë
• Port of Sarandë

Austria

• Vienna
• Linz

Belgium

• Port of Ghent
• Port of Liège - an inland port

Bulgaria

• Port of Burgas
• Port of Varna

Croatia

• Port of Split, the largest passenger port in Croatia
• Port of Rijeka, the largest port in Croatia
• Port of Ploče, serves mainly Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Port of Zadar
• Port of Vukovar, the largest river port in Croatia, on Danube river
• Port of Osijek, second largest river port in Croatia, on Drava river

Cyprus

• Port of Limassol
• Port of Larnaca

Denmark

• Port of Aarhus
• Port of Esbjerg
• Port of Copenhagen

Estonia

• Port of Pärnu
• Port of Sillamäe

Finland

• Port of Helsinki

France

• Brest
• Caen
• Bordeaux
• Cherbourg
• Dieppe
• La Rochelle
• Lorient
• Lyon
• Nantes Saint-Nazaire
• Paris
• Rouen
• Strasbourg
• Toulon

Germany

• Port of Duisburg-Ruhrort, largest inland port in Europe
• Port of Kiel
• Port of Rostock
• Cologne
• Dortmund
• Emden
• Essen
• Frankfurt am Main
• Heidelberg
• Lübeck
• Mannheim
• Regensburg
• Wiesbaden

Greece

• Port of Thessaloniki
• Port of Heraklion
• Port of Igoumenitsa
• Port of Rafina
• Port of Patras
• Port of Lavrio
• Port of Souda
• Port of Volos
• Port of Eleusina
• Port of Agioi Theodoroi
• Port of Alexandroupoli
• Port of Aspropyrgos
• Port of Rhodes
• Port of Corfu
• Port of Katakolon

Hungary

• Budapest

Iceland

• Reykjavík

Ireland

• Port of Cork
• Dublin Port
• Rosslare Europort
• Shannon Foynes Port
• Port of Waterford

Italy

• Port of Augusta
• Port of Bari
• Port of Brindisi
• Port of Civitavecchia (Port of Rome)
• Port of Cagliari
• Port of Livorno
• Port of Palermo
• Port of Ravenna
• Port of Salerno
• Port of Savona
• Port of Venice

Latvia

• Freeport of Riga
• Port of Liepāja
• Port of Ventspils

Lithuania

• Port of Klaipėda

Malta

• Grand Harbour
• Malta Freeport

Montenegro

• Port of Bar, which also serves Serbia

Netherlands

^[26]

• Groningen Seaports Eemshaven/ Delfzijl^[27]
• Port of Harlingen^[28]
• Port of Nijmegen^[29]
• Zeeland Seaports (Vlissingen/ Terneuzen), together with Ghent (Belgium) part of North Sea Port^[30]

Norway

• Haugesund
• Kristiansand
• Narvik
• Oslo
• Porsgrunn
• Stavanger
• Tromsø
• Trondheim

Poland

• Port of Szczecin-Świnoujście (Port of Szczecin, Port of Świnoujście)
• Port of Gdynia
• Port of Police
• Port of Kołobrzeg
• Port of Elbląg
• Port of Darłowo

Portugal

• Port of Leixões (Porto)
• Port of Lisbon

Romania

• Port of Brăila
• Port of Galați
• Port of Mangalia
• Port of Midia
• Port of Sulina
• Port of Tulcea

Russia

• Port of Kaliningrad
• Archangelsk
• Sevastopol (disputed)
• Volgograd

Serbia

• Port of Belgrade

Slovenia

• Port of Koper

Spain

• Port of A Coruña
• Port of Alicante
• Port of Almería
• Port of Avilés
• Port of Bilbao, with 179,572 passengers, cargo of 39,397,938, and 557,355 TEUs in 2008
• Port of Cartagena
• Port of Cádiz
• Port of Castellón
• Port of Ceuta
• Port of Ferrol
• Port of Gijón
• Port of Huelva
• Port of Málaga, with 642,529 passengers, cargo of 4,620,000 of tons and 428,623 TEUs in 2008^[31]
• Port of Melilla
• Port of Motril
• Rota, a large Spanish naval base
• Port of Las Palmas (Puerto de la Luz)
• Port of Pasajes (Pasaia, Gipuzkoa)
• Port of Santander
• Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands
• Port of Seville
• Port of Tarragona
• Port of Vigo, the biggest fishing port in the world with 751,971 tons of fish and shellfish in 2008

Sweden

• Copenhagen Malmö Port (with Denmark)
• Port of Trelleborg

Switzerland

• Basel on the Rhine River, the only operational inland port in Switzerland

Turkey

• Port of İstanbul

Ukraine

• Port of Chornomorsk
• Port of Mariupol
• Port of Mykolaiv
• Port of Odesa
• Pivdennyi Port
• Sevastopol (disputed)
• Yalta

United Kingdom

• Aberdeen, Scotland
• Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Bristol, western England
• Cardiff, South East Wales
• Edinburgh, south-eastern Scotland
• Foyle Port, Northern Ireland
• Glasgow, south-western Scotland
• Kingston upon Hull, north-eastern England
• Liverpool, north-western England
• Manchester via the Manchester Ship Canal to the Irish Sea
• Newcastle upon Tyne, northeastern England
• Portland Harbour, southern England
• Portsmouth Harbour, southern England is one of the oldest ports in England

See also

• List of busiest container ports
• List of busiest ports by cargo tonnage

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2024-02-20 . Port of Rotterdam in full transition in 2023 . Port of Rotterdam.
2. Web site: 2024-01-11 . Port of Antwerp-Bruges cargo volumes in tonnes down 5.5% to 271 million tonnes in 2023 . PortNews.
3. Web site: 2024-01-19 . Russian seaports cargo volume rose 5% Y/Y to 883.8 million tonnes in 2023 (expanded version) . PortNews .
4. Web site: Statistics . 2024-02-28 . Port of Hamburg.
5. Web site: 2023-01-17 . The Port of Algeciras Grows by 2% . Autoridad Portuaria de la Bahía de Algeciras.
6. Web site: 2024-01-10 . Ukraine grain pushes Romanian Constanta port to record volumes in 2023 . Reuters.
7. Web site: 2024-01-30 . HAROPA PORT’s maritime traffic down by 4.5% to 81.3Mt in 2023 . PortNews.
8. Web site: Facts and figures . 2024-01-29 . Port Gdańsk.
9. Web site: 2024-02-01 . Valenciaport traffic down by 2.81% to 76,746,424 tonnes in 2023 . PortNews.
10. Web site: 2024-01-18 . In a Global Context of Decline, the Port of Marseille Fos Remains on Course and is Making Record Investments . Port de Marseille Fos . PDF.
11. Web site: Bergen Havn Årsmelding 2022 . Port of Bergen Annual Report 2022 . 2024-07-29 . Bergen Havn . 8 . no . PDF.
12. Web site: 2024-02-26 . Port of Barcelona handles 3.3 million TEUs in 2023 . Container News.
13. Web site: 2024-01-17 . Statistics of Genoa ports. portsofgenoa.
14. Web site: Annual report 2023: Amsterdam port in full transition . Port of Amsterdam . 23 April 2024 . 27 July 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240727090748/https://www.portofamsterdam.com/en/news/annual-report-2023-amsterdam-port-full-transition .
15. Web site: 2024-01-24 . In 2023, cargo traffic in the port of Trieste decreased by -3.4% . inforMARE.
16. Web site: 2024-07-17 . PORT0301: Freight traffic by port and year (filter by direction and cargo type) . GOV.UK . ODS.
17. Web site: Volume of containers handled in the top 20 EU main ports by loading status . 2024-02-28 . Eurostat.
18. Web site: 2024-01-17 . Statistics of Genoa ports. portsofgenoa.
19. Web site: 2024-02-22 . 2023 Business Performance Highlights - Luka Koper d.d. . 2024-08-15 . www.luka-kp.si . en-US.
20. Web site: 2024-01-29 . Klaipėda Port: the Year of 2023 Were More Successful Than Expected . Klaipėda Port.
21. Web site: Passengers embarked and disembarked in the top 20 EU ports . 2024-03-02 . Eurostat.
22. Web site: Port of Dover unveils buoyant 2023 results as it looks to invest heavily in the future. 2024-07-02. 2024-10-30.
23. Web site: Statistical databases . 2024-01-13 . Statistics Finland .
24. Web site: Key Figures . 2024-02-03 . Port of Tallinn . XLSX.
25. Web site: 2024-05-24 . Shipping goods . Transport Analysis.
26. Web site: Welke zeehavens zijn er in Nederland? .
27. Web site: Groningen Seaports - Havenbeheerder Delfzijl Eemshaven.
28. Web site: Port of Harlingen: Het maritieme & logistieke hart van Noord-Nederland. Port of Harlingen.
29. Web site: Home.
30. Web site: Startpagina. North Sea Port.
31. http://www.puertomalaga.com/dlfile.jsp?./memorias/memoria_2008.pdf Memoria 2008, Annual Report