– Upturn maintained in first quarter
Steep growth in railborne container transport
The Port of Hamburg’s seaborne cargo throughput in the first quarter exceeded expectations. The upward trend here was powered by a steep increase in March, especially.
Seaborne cargo handling in the first quarter advanced by 0.4 percent, and therefore better than in the same quarter of the previous year. Container handling was 1.8 percent up on the same period of 2020. After a modest start in the first two months, March brought a strong boost. Throughput of bulk cargoes was ahead by 2.7 percent
The trend for the Port of Hamburg’s first-quarter seaborne cargo throughput was still affected by the lasting repercussions of the corona pandemic. “The month of March brought the crucial turnaround for container handling. Compared to March 2020, this was ahead by 9.4 percent. From March, we discerned a recovery in several areas of the economy, stronger consumer demand, and renewed stability in the number of liner services calling in Hamburg.
With 697,000 TEU being handled on seaport-hinterland services by rail, a 5.1 percent gain, we achieved a fine result,” explains Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing.
First-quarter seaborne cargo handling in the Port of Hamburg
Port of Hamburg terminals loaded and discharged 32.1 million tons of seaborne cargoes in the first three months of this year, representing a slight – 0.4 percent – increase on the previous year. At 22.4 million tons, general cargo throughput was just slightly – 0.5 percent – lower than in I/2020. The trend on container handling in Hamburg at 2.2 million TEU – 20-ft standard containers – was also upwards, the gain on the previous year being 1.8 percent. “Import and export container throughput performance was almost identical.
At 1.1 million TEU each, both categories rose by 1.8 percent. The America, Asia, Africa and Australia/Pacific container trades ensured upward throughput trends. On European sea trades, the only positive development was a gain of 3.7 percent on transhipment throughput with the Scandinavian countries. Generally, the European sea trades reported a four percent downturn in the first quarter”, says Mattern. Totalling 9.8 million tons, bulk cargo throughput was up by 2.7 percent. Within this segment, grab cargoes at 5.5 million tons performed well, achieving a 17.0 percent gain, ore imports being the main contributor.
Ahead by 36.1 percent at 2.7 million tons, these accounted for a large share of the excellent figure for bulk cargoes. Down 19.1 percent at 1.7 million tons and 5.5 percent at 2.6 million tons, both suction and liquid cargoes were below the previous year’s level.
Trends differ for Hamburg’s Top Ten partners for sea-container handling
On container handling, the first three months of 2021 saw very differing trends for the Port of Hamburg’s most important trading partners. On seaward container handling with China, Hamburg’s largest trading partner by a wide margin, a 16 percent increase to 672,000 TEU was achieved. With a 0.7 percent gain to 147,000 TEU, the USA, Hamburg’s No 2, also remained on the growth path. Other Top Ten countries with a positive first-quarter trend in container handling were Sweden – up 2.6 percent, Poland – up 6.0 percent, Brazil – up 9.8 percent and Denmark – up 3.2 percent.
These satisfactory first-quarter trends in seaborne container handling were sufficient to offset downturns with other countries. “Of Hamburg’s Top Ten trading partners in seaborne container transport, six were already on a growth path in the first quarter. Among the four with downturns, we witnessed stabilization and a slight recovery. In our view, the continuing repercussions of the corona pandemic on worldwide transport and trading chains will gradually grow weaker this year.
