Ports bordering the Mediterranean Sea are expected to have recorded three to six per cent growth in 2013, compared to around 3.3 per cent growth at global container ports, according to Shipping Gazette.
Transshipment volumes at key Mediterranean hubs are predicted to have risen by an average of more than eight per cent, with a number of ports showing even higher growth rates, according to Drewry's Container Insight Weekly's preliminary estimates.
The researchers attribute the increases experienced at west Mediterranean hubs to greater relay transshipment activity, albeit, there has been recovery in feeder volumes to and from the Black Sea and North Africa for central Med hubs.
This comes as container shipping lines have been rationalising their service networks and replacing direct services to and from West Africa with transshipment from ever larger east-west mother ships passing through the Mediterranean.
Of the eight ports handling in excess of one million TEU annually of transshipment traffic, all but one (Valencia) recorded growth, with volumes increasing by more than the market average.
Several saw double-digit transshipment volume growth: Piraeus, Tanger Med, Gioia Tauro and Ambarli.
This was a marked contrast to the hub ports handling less than one million TEU annually, most of which were in negative territory in 2013, with the only significant winners being Cagliari and Sines (the latter is not actually in the Mediterranean, but performs a similar role to west Med hubs).
Clearly the smaller hubs are suffering from lack of scale, changes in alliance make-ups, as well as specific weaknesses in some cases such as vessel size/draft restrictions in Damietta.
The three ports which achieved the highest growth in estimated transshipment traffic in 2013 were Sines with 76 per cent, Tanger Med (38 per cent) and Piraeus (19 per cent), all of which have direct or indirect links with the major ocean liners.
The central Mediterranean and west Med sub-regions showed the strongest growth last year with 12.3 per cent and 10.2 per cent, respectively.
The east Mediterranean sub-region saw a decrease of five per cent, although, East Port Said achieved nine per cent growth. It is home to APM Terminals' Suez Canal Container Terminal, the largest hub port handling 60 per cent of the sub-region's volumes.
In Drewry's view bigger east-west ships and larger container shipping alliances are likely to continue to allow key transshipment hub ports in the Mediterranean to outperform underlying organic market growth by serving regions well beyond the Mediterranean through relay.
As for the smaller hubs, they will find it harder to compete unless they can find a niche - or a large shipping line to back them.
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