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Eurogate's 2015 container volume falls 2pc to 14.5 million TEU

HAMBURG's Eurogate Group, which operates port terminals jointly with its sister company Contship Italia, saw total container throughput in 2015 decline two per cent year-on-year to 14.5 million TEU.

The company's Italian terminals suffered a 5.5 per cent decrease in box volumes to 4.8 million TEU last year, while container volumes at the group's German terminals rose by 1.5 per cent to 8.2 million TEU.

The North Sea terminals in Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven recorded a 1.9 per cent increase in container handling volumes overall to 5.9 million TEU.

This is despite Bremerhaven registering a 4.3 per cent decline in total throughput at 5.5 million TEU which the company attributed to a "decrease in feeder volumes in transport operations with Russia".

A group statement said that "after a strong start, Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg was overtaken by the faltering Chinese export trade and stagnated at 2.3 million TEU (+0.5 per cent year-on-year)" in 2015.

Container throughput also declined at the group's terminals in Russia and Morocco, with volumes falling by 17 per cent in Ust-Luga and nine per cent in Tangier, reported London's Container Management.

However, the terminal in Lisbon, Portugal, registered a 5.6 per cent year-on-year increase in container throughput in 2015, to 207,317 TEU.

Looking ahead, chairman of the Eurogate Group, Emanuel Schiffer, said in a statement: "The market environment continues to be challenging and is characterised by overcapacities and weakening global demand, triggered by the slump in Chinese export trade. For 2016, we are again anticipating a difficult year."

He added that the company handled 200 containerships of more than 18,000 TEU at its North Sea terminals in 2015, claiming that its container terminals are "predestined to handle the new mega carriers".