Bulk cargo throughput increases slightly at Port of Hamburg

“Seaborne cargo throughput in the Port of Hamburg has stabilised and for the first three quarters of 2016 again increased. Seen separately, the third quarter with a 2.7% upturn to 34.7 million t underlines the upwards trend. Both general and bulk cargo volumes developed positively for Germany’s largest universal port,” said Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing.

The successful trend for seaport-hinterland rail transport was also maintained.

“By comparison with other leading European ports, in the first three quarters of 2016 Hamburg further expanded freight volumes transported by rail. Transporting 35.5 million t of freight and 1.8 million TEU, representing gains of 3.1% and 1.9%, rail once again achieved a substantial advance,” reported Ingo Egloff, Joint CEO of Port of Marketing.

Bulk cargo throughput in Hamburg for the first nine months of 2016 was 0.3% up at 34.5 million t, with import and export trends again differing. Imports during the first three quarters were up 6.7% at 25.7 million t. On the export side, bulk cargo throughput totalled 8.7 million t and remained 14.8% below the previous year’s. Both a 14.1% advance to 3.2 million t for suction cargoes – grain and oilseeds – and one of 14% to 8 million t for the liquid cargo segment, especially oil products, ensured growth in imports. Grab cargo throughput, mainly of coal and ore, also grew, and was 1.5% higher at 14.6 million t.

There were various reasons for the 8.7 million t (14.8%) fall in exports in the suction/liquid/grab cargo segment. Apart from the harvest-related downturn in grain exports, down by 21.9% or 2.7 million t in the first half, and far weaker than in the especially strong previous year, oil product exports at 2.5 million t were also 26.5% down. Poor throughput is reported to be can primarily be a result of the closure of a major Hamburg refinery and cessation of its oil product exports. The grab cargo segment almost reached the figure for the comparable period of the previous year, with the total just 0.6% lower at 2.6 million t.

Ingo Egloff and Axel Mattern, Port of Hamburg Marketing’s two joint CEOs, revealed at the port’s quarterly press conference that the universal port of Hamburg’s seaborne cargo throughput has stabilised, with an upward trend discernible. In stiff competition with the main ports of Northern Europe, Hamburg can report an outstanding trend on seaport-hinterland services. Against the general rail freight tendency for declining volumes, the quantity of freight shifted in and out of the Port of Hamburg by rail increased by 3.1%.

Read the article online at: https://www.drybulkmagazine.com/ports-terminals/17112016/bulk-cargo-throughput-increases-slightly-at-port-of-hamburg/