Hamburg looks for positives after first half drop-off

Hamburg looks for positives after first half drop-off    The Port of Hamburg saw container volume fall 28.7 percent in the first half of 2008 to 3.6 million TEUs, according to statistics from the port.
   That fall surpassed the port's decline in cargo based on tonnage, which fell 23.7 percent to 54.2 million tons. Of that tonnage, imports decline 26.5 percent to 30 million tons, while exports fell 19.9 percent to 24.2 million tons.
   'The slump in cargo throughput had not yet begun in the first half of 2008, which brought Hamburg a volume of 5 million TEUs and a growth rate of almost 4 percent,' the port said. 'It was not until the second half of 2008 that the worldwide finance and economic crisis began to have massive effects on seagoing cargo transport.'
   Containerized cargo accounts for about 97 percent of the port's tonnage, with the port touting itself as the busiest containerized cargo gateway in Europe for cargo from Asia and China.
   'The number of containers transported to and from Asia reached a total of only 2.1 million TEUs,' down 25.1 percent, the port said. 'Since many of these containers are transshipped via Hamburg as an important feeder hub, particularly for the Baltic Sea region, the drop in this area had especially strong effects in connection with container volumes in short-sea transports.'
   The port did, however, say there are some relatively bright spots emerging.
   'Analysis of the various relations also shows some positive trends in the first half of 2009,' the port said. 'Container transport to West Africa, not one of (Hamburg's) top 10 trading partners for example, reached a volume of 27,000 TEUs and a growth rate of 7.5 percent. It is also worth mentioning that container traffic to and from India and Pakistan was only around 5 percent lower than in the previous year, making up 131,000 TEU.'
   'Despite the negative results, the cargo volumes in the first half of 2009 give us reason to be optimistic, since our assessment is that we have hit bottom and cargo handling in the seaport has become generally stable,' said Claudia Roller, chair of Port of Hamburg Marketing, a promotional subsidiary of the port.
   'We are expecting a positive trend in seaborne cargo volumes in the second half of the year. According to the monthly data that we have, we can see that there has been a small gain in container transport since the month of April and up through June and that the downswing has been stopped. We have also been receiving positive signals from representatives of industry and trade as well as from leading managers in the transport and shipping businesses at our port and trade fair events at home and abroad.'