Port of Hamburg sees steady first half 2017 volumes

The German port handled 70 million metric tons of cargo during the first six months of the year, a 0.2 percent decline from the corresponding 2016 period.    The Port of Hamburg handled 70 million metric tons of cargo during the first half of 2017, falling 0.2 percent from the corresponding 2016 period, the German port said Wednesday.
   Imports accounted for 57 percent of the port’s throughput during the first half of 2017, while exports comprised the remaining 43 percent.
   Containerized general cargo volumes reached 4.45 million TEUs, unchanged from the first half of last year. China (including Hong Kong) is by far the port’s top trading partner for seaborne container traffic. Container throughput with China inched up 1.3 percent year-over-year to 1.29 million TEUs.
   Meanwhile, bulk cargo throughput totaled 23.5 million metric tons, inching up 1 percent from the first half of 2016, while non-containerized general cargo throughput tumbled 11.7 percent to 720,000 metric tons.