Port of Hamburg reports decline in YTD throughput

The German port handled 104.6 million tons of cargo during the first nine month of 2015, a 4.8 percent decrease from the corresponding period in 2014.    The Port of Hamburg posted a cargo throughput of 104.6 million tons for the first nine months of 2015, a 4.8 percent decline from the corresponding period in 2014.
   For the first nine months of the year, container throughput fell 9.2 percent year-over-year to 6.7 million TEUs, which the port primarily attributed to the weak rouble, low oil prices and Russia’s economic recession.
   Container throughput with Russia stood at 323,000 TEUs for the first nine months of the year, down 36 percent from the same period last year.
   However, the declining trend in container traffic with Russia appears to have ended, the port said. “We assume that container throughput with Russia is now stabilizing and that perhaps the first signs of an upward trend will be apparent next year,” Port of Hamburg Executive Board Member, Marketing Axel Mattern said in a statement.
   In addition, container throughput with China stood at 1.9 million TEUs for the first nine months of 2015, down 14.9 percent year-over-year. “Since China is our strongest trading partner in container traffic, and large quantities of containers are transhipped via Hamburg for transport into the Baltic region, this downturn is painful for the Port of Hamburg,” Mattern said.
   The Port of Hamburg’s container traffic with Baltic region ports reached 1.4 million TEUs for the first nine months of the year, a 22.4 percent decline from the same period last year.
   Bulk cargo throughput at the port reached 34.3 million tons for the first nine months of 2015, a year-over-year increase of 8.7 percent.
   The Port of Hamburg’s non-containerized general cargo throughput reached 1.5 million tons, an 8.5 percent decline from the same period in 2014. Non-containerized general cargo import volumes rose 7.2 percent year-over-year to 428,000 tons, while non-containerized general cargo export volumes fell 14.5 percent year-over-year to 892,000 tons.