Port of Hamburg Marks Modest Increase in Cargo Volumes

Port of Hamburg/Dietmar Hasenpusch Germanys Port of Hamburg has recorded a 0.3 percent increase in its total seaborn cargo throughput for the first three quarters of 2016, handling 104.9 million tons of freight against 104.6 million in the same period last year.  The ports seaborn cargo exports, including general and bulk cargo segments, dropped by 4.1 percent to 44.4 million tons from 46.3 million tons handled in the first nine months of 2015. Imports for the period rose to 60.5 million tons from 58.3 million tons of cargo seen in 2015, representing an increase of 3.8 percent. Seaborne cargo throughput in the Port of Hamburg has stabilized and for the first three quarters of 2016 again increased. Seen separately, the third quarter with a 2.7 percent upturn to 34.7 million tons underlines the upwards trend, Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing, said. Bulk cargo throughput in Hamburg for the first nine months of 2016 was up by 0.3 percent at 34.5 million tons, against 34.3 million tons recorded in the same period last year. Bulk cargo imports during the first three quarters rose by 6.7 percent to 25.7 million tons, while exports stood at 8.7 million tons, 14.8 percent below the previous year’s. Non-containerized general cargo throughput for the three-month period of 2016 was at 1.2 million tons, 9.5 percent lower from 1.32 million tons seen in the same period last year. Imports in this sector decreased by 2.2 percent, while exports plunged by 13 percent for the first nine months of the year. In the first nine months of the year, the ports container throughput remained almost at the previous year’s level. Containerized cargo volume was up by 0.4 percent to 69.3 million tons, while the number of boxes handled dropped 0.1 percent and stood at 6.7 million TEUs. The Port of Hamburgs container throughput statistics for the first three quarters indicated 0.5 percent growth to 3.5 million TEUs in import boxes, while exports went down to 3.2 million TEUs, remaining 0.6 percent below the previous years figure, according to Mattern. Despite the increase in import containers and an overall 0.5 percent advance for loaded containers, reaching 5.7 million TEU in the first three quarters, a very slight 0.1 percent downturn occurred in the Port of Hamburg’s overall throughput figure. That is primarily attributable to fewer transhipment services with ports in Poland and Sweden, Mattern added. For the full year 2016, the Port of Hamburg expects its seaborne cargo to be at last years level of 138 million tons, with container throughput amounting to 9 million TEUs.