Port of Hamburg Q1 cargo volumes up 9.8%

The Port of Hamburg, Germany’s largest harbor, said cargo turnover rose 9.8 percent in the first quarter after trade with Asia and the countries around the Baltic Sea increased, Bloomberg reports.


Cargo volume handled totaled 31.4 million tons in the period, the Port of Hamburg said in a statement today. The number of standard containers handled rose 18.2 percent to 2.1 million, of which Asia accounted for 1.3 million boxes, it said.


Hamburg lost its ranking as Europe’s second-largest container port to Antwerp in 2009 when the German port’s container volumes slumped 28 percent. Traffic picked up last year, with volumes rising 13 percent, as German exports jumped. Hamburg said today it won European market share in the first quarter as container volume growth outpaced a 10.1 percent expansion in Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port, and a 7.9 percent increase in Antwerp.


“The reasons for the above-average container volume growth are remarkably strong container traffic to and from Asia as well as in the Baltic Sea region,” the port said.


Hamburger Hafen & Logistik AG, which handles two-thirds of containers at Hamburg, said on May 13 that first-quarter profit jumped 47 percent to 16.4 million euros because of growth in European exports to China and increasing traffic to Russia.
(Source:http://en.portnews.ru)