Design/methodology/approach – This study applies a fuzzy methodology to measure port competitiveness based on the expert judgements of logisticians. It applies a trapezoidal fuzzy number to measure their perceptions. The method accepts a linguistic expression of their judgements of five of the world’s top six container ports in terms of container through-puts, including Hong Kong, Busan, Shanghai, Kaohsuing, Shenzhen. Qindao ranked 16th and Tokyo ranked 20th were also analyzed.