Transshipment

Transshipment is unloading a container from one ship at an intermediate hub port and loading it onto another to continue its voyage. Shipping lines use hubs to connect large mainline vessels with smaller feeder services; a European Commission-hosted study put transshipment at about 28% of world port container throughput in 2012.

Why lines use hubs

Instead of calling at every port, shipping lines send large vessels to a few intermediate locations where containers are transshipped between vessels — the big ship runs the main route, and feeders carry boxes on to smaller ports. The PORTOPIA study for the European Commission estimated that about 28% of the world's 623 million TEU of port throughput in 2012 was transshipped containers. Singapore, a major hub, handled a record 44.66 million TEU in 2025. The trade-off is an extra handling: every transshipped box is lifted off one ship and onto another, which adds time, cost and a connection to miss.

Customs at the hub

• India's bill-of-entry rules still apply to goods merely transshipped through Sri Lanka: file before the day of arrival.
• Dubai's 12-digit tariff exempts transshipment and transit flows, which keep 8-digit codes.

Worked example: what the hub adds

Suppose a direct service takes 18 days port to port. A transshipment route takes 10 days to the hub, 3 days waiting there and 7 days on the feeder — and the feeder sails once a week.

The mistake people make

Planning on the quoted transit time. A transshipment schedule assumes the box makes its connection; a congested hub or a full feeder rolls it to the next sailing, and the delay is days, not hours.