Port of Hamburg: With a list due to the corona pandemic

display

Last spring, during the first lockdown in the pandemic, one could hardly hope for numbers like these in the Port of Hamburg: Germany's largest seaport closed the first Corona year with a decline in total cargo handling of 7.6 percent.

Container throughput fell by 7.9 percent compared to 2019.

A total of around 126.3 million tons of goods crossed the quayside in Hamburg in 2020, including 8.5 million container units (TEU).

Port of Hamburg Marketing announced this on Thursday.

For this year, the port industry - assuming the global economy recovers - a handling result of 130 million tons and 8.7 million TEU is achievable.

Hamburg also hopes for a boost in the coming years from the fact that the deepening and widening of the Elbe fairway has largely been completed.

The nautically particularly important "meeting box" for very large ships off Hamburg was recently released.

display

For the pending deepening, the dredging work should be completed by mid-April, said Jens Meier, head of the port administration HPA.

Then the effective depths will be measured and the effects of ships with the then greater drafts on the Elbe will be determined.

Step by step, the Elbe fairway will then also be released for the greater ship depths in the coming months.

Meier did not mention any dates for this.

"The port is one of the most important economic factors in Northern Germany"

During the high tide, ships will soon be able to enter and leave Hamburg with a draft of 14.50 meters.

This allows the additional transport of - depending on the weight of the container - 1500 to 1700 TEU per ship.

With the new encounter box, more large ships can enter and leave each tide.

The number of particularly large container ships with a capacity of 18,000 TEU and more that come to Hamburg increased further to 189 in 2020, compared to 165 in the previous year.

The completion of the deepening and widening of the Elbe is also an important signal from the point of view of politics to the international shipping industry to get the Port of Hamburg's business going again.

"This is an indispensable prerequisite for being able to continue to play in the concert of the major European ports," said Hamburg's Senator for Economic Affairs Michael Westhagemann (independent).

"The Port of Hamburg is one of the most important economic factors in northern Germany and, as a hub for international goods traffic, plays an extremely important role for Germany's entire economic system."

display

The developments in freight traffic with the individual countries reflect the turbulence in the global economy in 2020: Container handling with Hamburg's most important foreign trade partner China fell by 8.2 percent, as a result of the lockdown of the Chinese and then the European economy in the first half of the year.

Container traffic with the United States increased slightly because the closings of factories there were not implemented quite as strictly and because citizens in the United States consumed significantly even during the pandemic.

In turn, container traffic between Hamburg and Great Britain grew by more than 28 percent.

Because of the Brexit, many British companies had filled their warehouses as a precaution.

The transfer of empty containers from Great Britain also played a role.

The importance of rail freight transport for the port of Hamburg

Hamburg's port intends to significantly expand its inland traffic, especially on the freight railways, in the coming years.

In the meantime, more than 50 percent of goods are moved into and out of the Port of Hamburg by rail.

The number of containers transported fell by 4.4 percent to 2.6 million TEU.

“In terms of cargo volume, the third-best result in the history of the Hamburg port railway was achieved in 2020 and the second-best result in terms of transported containers,” said Axel Mattern, CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing.

display

Hamburg sees potential for container rail traffic above all in the transport of goods to and from North Rhine-Westphalia.

The main reason for this is that there is more low water on the Rhine than before.

This makes it difficult to transport containers to Rotterdam by barge.

Against the background of the pandemic and declining handling figures, Hamburg-based HHLA and rival Eurogate, with roots in Hamburg and Bremen, are currently negotiating a merger of their German container terminals.

The Eurogate terminals in Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven are currently operating at a loss.

In Hamburg, HHLA is particularly concerned about its largest terminal, Burchardkai.

Investment ruin?

The uncertain future of the JadeWeserPort

In view of the existing overcapacities on the market, the role of the JadeWeserPort in Wilhelmshaven is likely to come into focus in the coming years.

Container throughput in the deep water port decreased by 33.8 percent to around 423,000 TEU in 2020, as Niedersachsen Ports announced on Tuesday.

The terminal, which was inaugurated in 2012, is now only used to capacity by 15 percent. As a pure container port, without any notable industry or manufacturing, the JadeWeserPort threatens to become a ruined investment. Bremen politicians are already publicly speculating about a withdrawal from ownership of the port, which the city-state jointly owns with Lower Saxony. The terminal is operated by Eurogate in cooperation with the Mærsk shipping group.