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Port of Hamburg resumes growth with box volume up slightly

AFTER a tough 2015, container throughput at the Port of Hamburg stabilised last year edging up one per cent to 8.9 million TEU.

Volumes with Russia climbed by 4.5 perent to 453,000 TEU after being affected by geopolitical sanctions.

Ingo Egloff, joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing, stated: "Despite trade sanctions remaining in force, Russia returned to second place (2015: third) among the Port of Hamburg's container transport trading partners.

Container traffic with Asia grew by 1.3 per cent to 4.7 million TEU, buoyed by a 1.6 per cent increase in throughput with Chinese ports.

Container services on trade routes with North and South America were up 2.9 per cent at 1.2 million TEU while European container trade remained at 2015's level of 2.6 million TEU.

Direct calls by container liner services in Gothenburg and Danzig caused downturns in Hamburg's seaborne container throughput with Sweden, 10.6 per cent lower at 243,000 TEU, and Poland, down by 9.7 per cent at 214,000 TEU, reports Container Management.

Totalling 1.8 million TEU, container services with the Baltic nevertheless remained at the previous year's level.

Axel Mattern, joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing, said: "Despite lower transshipment-container services by feederships to/from Sweden and Poland, on total throughput the port can report an upward trend for both imports and exports. Growth was primarily generated by container services with Asia and the Americas."

The number of containers transported by rail climbed by 2.4 per cent to 2.4 million TEU, with more than 200 freight trains arriving or leaving the port each day.