Shanghai has overtaken Singapore as the world's busiest container port after its container throughput surpassed that of the Southeast Asian port for the first eight months of the year.

Shanghai moved 19.06 million TEUs for the January-August period, 50,000 TEUs higher than Singapore's 19.01 million TEUs, according to data from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

"It's a reflection of the strong recovery story in China this year," Selena Ling, head of treasury research for OCBC Bank, was quoted on Singapore's Business Times.

MPA said that its key concern remains to whether the port of Singapore will continue to grow and offer a competitive and compelling proposition to its users.

Singapore's container throughput for the period was up 13% from the corresponding period a year ago.

"We are thus encouraged by the strong growth seen by the port of Singapore this year," Lam Yi Young, CEO of MPA told local papers.

In 2009, Singapore port recorded container throughput of about 25.9 million TEUs, just 900,000 TEUs more than Shanghai's 25 million TEUs.