In 2013, the Port of Hamburg achieved total throughput of 139 million tones, a growth of 6.2 percent. Both general cargo handling totalling 96.8 million tonmes (+ 5.7 percent) and bulk cargo handling at 42.3 million tonnes (+ 7.2 percent), ensured above-average growth for Germany's largest universal port.
"The Port of Hamburg's throughput trend is a fine signal for Hamburg and the entire metropolitan region. Growth of 6.2 percent is a most impressive result, underlining the tremendous effectiveness of port and logistics companies in Germany's largest universal port," said Axel Mattern, Port of Hamburg Marketing's executive board member.
Container handling was the principal source of this growth. With throughput of 9.3 million TEUs, the increase in container traffic reached 4.4 percent. This was primarily attributable to growth in transhipment services into the North Sea and Baltic region that were 10 percent higher, plus the onset of a recovery in container traffic with Asia, and especially with China, Hamburg's largest partner on the market.
Against the trend in its competing ports, the Port of Hamburg succeeded in growing and in gaining market shares in container traffic. In the four largest ports of mainland Northern Europe, in 2013 seaborne cargo throughput totalling 849.1 million tonnes represented only slight, one percent growth. Container throughput of these ports at 35.3 million TEUs even fell by 0.5 percent.
The Port of Hamburg's share of container throughput in the same four ports now amounts to 26.2 percent (+ 1.3 percentage points). Also against the trend in total seaborne cargo throughput in German seaports, which according to provisional details from the Federal Statistical Office was 0.6 percent lower at 293.3 million tonnes, the Port of Hamburg provided a shining example of growth. Hamburg accordingly consolidated its position as Europe's second strongest container port. In the worldwide ranking of container ports, Hamburg is in 15th position.
The satisfactory result in the general cargo sector was achieved mainly thanks to almost balanced growth on the import and export sides of container throughput.
In 2013, handling on the import side totalled 4.8 million TEUs (+ 4.3 percent) and on the export side, 4.5 million TEUs (+ 4.6 percent). Handling of loaded containers totalled eight million TEUs, representing a gain of 4.8 percent.
In 2013, strong exports provided a boost. A total of 1.2 million TEUs (+ 1.9 percent) were handled. The containerised proportion of general cargo throughput in the Port of Hamburg rose from 97.7 percent to the current 98 percent.
Throughput of non-containerised general cargo in 2013 totalled 1.9 million tonnes and was therefore 7.6 percent lower. The decline is primarily attributable to lower import volumes (19.3 percent).
Bulk cargo throughput in 2013 rose by 7.2 percent to altogether 42.3 million tonnes, also contributing significantly to the Port of Hamburg’s favourable result on the year.
-
Company DirectoryFreight RateExport RateAgency PartnershipCargo Leads