Abstract: Ports play an important role in the economic development of a region and the country, therefore the research on the evolution of port system has always been a hot topic in port geography area. Based on the port container throughput and container port number data of 14 container ports in the Yangtze River Delta during 1990-2015, and using Gini coefficients and offsetshare analysis, this study analyzes the general concentration trend and spatial evolution of the container port system in this area. Also the main points of the evolution model, and its influential factors are investigated. The results show that the container port system in this area has experienced two trends of decentralization and centralization, and there are four different stages with distinct characteristics. Generally, the spatial pattern in this area is reoriented toward regional concentration. Then the evolutionary model of “original singlenuclear→polarization core→dualcore development→multicore cooperative development” is finally defined. The evolution of the Yangtze River Delta container port system is affected by various factors, including natural conditions, technical progress, regional economy, policy and politics, and global value chain and supply chain. And the key drivers, their order and magnitude of these factors are different, depending on the development stage. This study contributes to further improve the evolution model of container port system, and the results are helpful for the construction of the Yangtze River delta container port system