Although cargo throughput at the German port for the first six months of the year slipped 0.9 percent from the same period in 2015, seaport-hinterland traffic by rail rose 3.9 percent.
The Port of Hamburg handled 70.2 million tons of cargo during the first six months of 2016, a 0.9 percent decline from the corresponding period in 2015.
Containerized cargo volumes slipped 1.2 percent year-over-year to 4.5 million TEUs, which the port primarily attributed to the downturn in transshipment services with ports in Poland and Sweden that handled calls from a larger number of direct container services.
Ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting illustrates the Port of Hamburg is frequented by 38 fully cellular container services that connect the port to other regions outside of North Europe, in addition to over two dozen that strictly serve the intra-North Europe trade.
In terms of bulk cargo throughout, the port posted a 1.4 percent year-over-year decline to 23.3 million tons, driven down by lower exports, which tumbled 18.3 percent year-over-year to 6.2 million tons due to lower grain exports, along with less oil product exports following the closure of a Hamburg refinery. On the flip side, bulk cargo import volumes rose 6.7 percent from the first half of 2015 to 17.1 million tons, fueled by a rise in suction cargo and liquid cargo.
Meanwhile, non-containerized general cargo volumes fell 6.9 percent year-over-year to 815,000 tons. Non-containerized general cargo imports dropped 5.6 percent from the corresponding period last year to 273,000 tons, as higher imports of wood, project cargo and citrus fruits failed to offset downturns in paper, metal and vehicles imports. Exports of non-containerized general cargo declined 7.6 percent year-over-year to 542,000 tons, as growth in iron, steel and wood exports failed to make up for lower vehicle exports.
On a bright note, 23.8 million tons of freight were transported into and out of the port by rail during the first six months of 2016, a 3.9 percent increase from the same period in 2015.
“With agreement for the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030, essential projects for the Port of Hamburg have been included under the heading ‘Priority Needs’. For Hamburg, the largest single project is the Southern link between the A1 and A7 autobahns known as the port lateral motorway,” Port of Hamburg Marketing Joint CEO Ingo Egloff said. “If the port is to continue to be expanded and remain competitive in its numerous functional areas, apart from the development of high-performance access and dispersal corridors for freight transport by rail, truck and inland waterway craft, dredging of the navigation channel on the Lower and Outer Elbe remains essential.”
Port of Hamburg posts decline in throughput
