Port of Hamburg Maintains Seaborne Cargo Volume
At 70 million tons, first-half seaborne cargo throughput in Hamburg in 2017, including the general and bulk cargo segments, all but matched the previous year’s, being only one-fifth of one percent (0.2%) lower.
In the first six months of 2017 containerized general cargo throughput at 4.45 million TEU (20-ft standard containers) was at the previous year’s level. Up by one percent at 23.5 million tons, bulk cargo throughput in Germany’s largest universal port continued to grow.
"In the first half of 2017 the Port of Hamburg generally succeeded in asserting itself in a difficult environment, producing a stable result compared to other German ports in the North Range," said Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing.
Mattern stressed that container volumes in Hamburg are based on a very differing throughput trend for Hamburg’s two major container terminal operators in the first half.
In the first six months of 2017 container throughput at 4.45 million TEU (20-ft standard containers) was at the previous year’s level. Throughput of loaded boxes at 3.8 million TEU (up 0.3 percent) reflected a positive trend. By contrast, handling of empty containers was 3.2 percent lower at 622,000 TEU.
With bulk cargo handling in Hamburg, totalling 23.5 million tons and up by 1.0 percent in the first half, trends for imports and exports differed. On the import side, a first-half total of 16.8 million tons meant a 1.3 percent downturn.
The Port of Hamburg is Germany’s largest universal port and guarantees more than 155,000 jobs in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region.
