Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) lost its 30th rank among the world's container handling ports owing to issues like strong competition from ports such as Mundra, Pipava and Hazira and delay in the developing the fourth container terminal.

The London-based “Containerisation International” publishes the list of leading 30 container ports. Until now, JNPT, which handles around 4.2 million TEUs of containers, held 30th rank in the list.

But in 2012, port Valencia occupied the 30th rank by handling 4.4 million TEUs of containers.

Shanghai remains the world’s No 1 container port by handling 32.57 million TEUs -- a 2.6 per cent growth over the volumes handled in 2011.

The second and third positions are held respectively by Singapore and Hong Kong ports that handle 31.64 and 23.1 million TEUs. The Chinese port of Shenzhen and the South Korean port of Busan remain at the fourth and fifth positions by handling 22.9 and 17 million TEUs respectively. Chinese ports viz Ningbo, Guangzhou and Qingdao occupied the 6th, 7th and 8th positions.

The 9th position is held by Dubai port, which handled 13.2 million TEUs.

Rotterdam, the largest container port in Europe, handled 11.86 million TEUs and occupied the 11th position.