Port of Hamburg handles record volumes in 2014

According to the port, overall throughput increased 4.8 percent for the year.    The Port of Hamburg reported a total throughput of 145.7 million tons in 2014, an increase of 4.8 percent and the highest total volume in its history. The port attributed the record-setting year to strong gains in the container, general cargo and bulk sectors.
   Container throughput at Hamburg reached 9.7 million TEUs, an increase of 5.1 percent, thanks partly to a 9.8 percent growth in container services with China, a 22.6 percent increase to and from Poland and a 14.9 percent growth with India.
   According to the port, however, repercussions of trade sanctions and the decline of the value of the rouble led to a 7.8 percent decrease in container throughput to and from Russia.
   General cargo volume at the port totaled 102.7 million tons, an increase of 6.1 percent, with throughput of non-containerized general cargo increasing 3.8 percent to 2.0 million tons in 2014. This growth was attributed to increased exports of iron, steel, paper and timber, and a 19.6 percent increase in imports of tropical fruit that reached 188,000 tons.
   Bulk cargo in 2014 increased to 43 million tons, 1.7 percent more than the previous year, driven primarily by coal imports, which increased 6.9 percent to 6.1 million tons; ore imports, which increased 4.4 percent to 9.9 million tons; and grain handling, up 6.7 percent to 3.7 million tons.
   Liquid bulk cargo throughput fell .8 percent to 14.4 million tons, due to lower imports of crude oil, palm and soya oil, as well as chemical products.
   According to a statement from the port, Hamburg projects that in 2015, “By the end of the year the total [throughput] could reach 149.0 million tons, with the 10 million TEU mark achieved for containers. Further growth in seaborne foreign trade with core markets is however essential for achievement of these figures.”