Port of Hamburg posts drop in throughput

The European port saw container volumes fall 3.4 percent year-over-year for the first quarter of 2016 to 2.2 million TEUs, primarily due to the slow start in container traffic with China and Russia early in the year.    The Port of Hamburg handled 34.8 million tons of cargo during the first quarter of 2016, a 2.5 percent decline from the corresponding period in 2015, the port said.
   Bulk cargo throughput for the quarter reached 11.5 million tons, while general cargo throughput totaled 23.3 million tons, a year-over-year drop of 1.9 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.
   Meanwhile, container volumes dipped 3.4 percent from the first quarter of 2015 to 2.2 million TEUs, which the port primarily attributed to the slow start in container traffic with China and Russia early in the year.
   However, the Port of Hamburg experienced an increase in container traffic between Finland, the United States, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and India, all of which are among the port’s top ten trading partners.
   During the quarter, the Port of Hamburg gained two container services, Maersk Line’s new Colombia Express and HDS/IRISL’s new Europe Container Line (ECL). Maersk Line’s Colombia Express fruit service operates between Colombia and North Europe. Ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting illustrates the loop deploys five vessels with an average capacity of 2,559 TEUs. The ECL operates between North Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East using two vessels with an average capacity of 2,478 TEUs.
   In sum, the port is frequented by 38 fully cellular container services that also operate outside of North Europe, in addition to a variety of intra-Europe fully cellular container loops, according to data from BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool.
   In terms of rail freight, the Port of Hamburg generally offers shippers over 1,100 weekly block train links with transshipment to and from intermodal terminals in Germany and elsewhere.
   During the first quarter, 11.6 million tons of freight were transported by rail into and out of the port, a 1.3 percent year-over-year increase, Port of Hamburg CEO Ingo Egloff said.
   Looking ahead, the Port of Hamburg is preparing for further growth in rail container traffic. The port’s rail terminal at Container Terminal Altenwerder is currently undergoing a construction project for the addition of two more rail tracks. The expansion project commenced in early April and is expected to last six months, logistics provider and terminal operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG said earlier this month.