Vietnam has been one of Asia's fastest growing economies since 1990, with a steady growth of 6-8 percent. Vietnam's container port throughput volume also increases impressively year by year, at around 6-8 percent since 2002. To cope with increasing cargo volume, the development of modernized container terminals in Northern Vietnam has intensified. This longitudinal study aims to identify the development of the system and, in particular, the concentration or deconcentration tendencies, as well as the geographical patterns from 2005 to 2014. In order to achieve the study's objectives, the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI), concentration ratios (CR1, CR3), the Gini coefficient, the Lorenz curve, and shift-share analysis (SSA) were applied based on container throughput volume data from 2005 to 2014. The results demonstrate that the development of container terminals in Northern Vietnam has experienced a deconcentration trend and considerable shifting among its terminals during the period of observation. The proposed and validated research is original as it is the first study of concentration, deconcentration, and geographical patterns for container terminals in Northern Vietnam. The findings will enable port authorities, policy makers, and port operators to understand the development and changes of container terminal systems in Northern Vietnam more clearly.