Cái Mép Port in HCM City. —Photo VGP

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam's major seaports continue to strengthen their position in global maritime trade, with Cái Mép and Hải Phòng ranking among the world's 20 best-performing container ports in 2025, according to the latest Container Port Performance Index (CPPI).

The CPPI 2025 report, jointly released by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence, ranked Cái Mép Port 11th globally and Hải Phòng Port 13th, both scoring 122 points.

The results place the two Vietnamese ports behind only a handful of leading international hubs, including Fuzhou, Dalian, Ma Wan, Xichuan, Ningbo and Hong Kong in China, Salalah in Oman, Tanger Med in Morocco, Hamad in Qatar and Kobe in Japan.

The rankings underscore Việt Nam's continued efforts to upgrade port infrastructure, modernise operations, accelerate digital transformation and strengthen connectivity across the logistics chain.

Particularly noteworthy was Hải Phòng's strong improvement over the past five years. According to the report, the northern port's CPPI score rose from 70 points in 2020 to 122 points in 2025, an increase of 52 points that placed it among the world's 20 most improved ports and sixth globally in terms of performance gains.

The rapid rise reflects the growing importance of the Hải Phòng gateway port cluster within regional and global supply chains, as Việt Nam further consolidates its role as a key manufacturing and export centre in Asia.

The report notes that many ports in Europe and North America experienced significant declines in performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to severe congestion, labour shortages, surging freight demand and bottlenecks in domestic logistics networks.

In contrast, ports in many upper-middle-income economies, particularly across East and South Asia, rebounded more quickly, supported by export-oriented trade structures, stronger competition among ports and sustained investment flows.

The CPPI is based on vessel-level data provided through S&P Global's Port Performance Programme, combined with information from Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracking and port-reported operational data. Only vessel calls involving the movement of at least one container are included in the assessment. — VNS