PORT OF HAMBURG magazine - Hafen Hamburg

Port of Hamburg annual result 2007 < SpecialIn view of the growing volume ofmerchandise trade worldwide, andthe increasing global division oflabour, it is not surprising that thecontainer traffic also witnessedparticularly dynamic trends in 2007,enabling the Port of Hamburg togenerate a growth rate of 11.6 percent. This enabled us to reach ourall-time high of 9.9 million TEU(20-ft. standard containers),”explained Sorgenfrei. “Since theyear 2000 – the first year after thelast dredging of the Elbe river –Hamburg’s market share of the containertraffic volume of the NorthRange ports in Europe has risenfrom 22 to 26 per cent. The Port ofHamburg, considered to be highlyefficient and very well positioned interms of its transport infrastructure,is benefiting from its role as a merchandisehub in global foreign tradeand particularly as a transhipmentport for ocean-going shipping on theFar East/Asian axis and the BalticSea region. The Baltic Sea trafficlinks with eastern European countriesagain managed to substantiallyoutperform other transport links in2007 with a growth rate of 21.2 percent. The fact that seaborne transportationby feeder vessels continuesto show positive trends for Hamburgis illustrated by the results for 2007in containerised traffic with Russia,where the Port of Hamburg set upanother record with a volume of730,000 TEU (+21.6 per cent) in2007. Russia is thus consolidatingits 3rd position among the ten keytrading partners of the Port ofHamburg in container traffic”,Sorgenfrei emphasised.Hamburg further strengthens itsstanding as the most importantcontainer port for the countriesaround the Baltic SeaIn seaborne traffic between Hamburgand the Baltic Sea states, a recordtranshipment volume of 2.7 millionTEU was handled in 2007. This isequivalent to an increase of around280,000 TEU (+11.7 per cent) comparedwith 2006. The list of thePort of Hamburg’s top ten tradingpartners includes no fewer than fivecountries bordering on the Baltic Sea:the Russian Federation (730,000 TEU)ranked third, Finland (502,000 TEU)ranked fourth, Sweden (390,000 TEU)ranked fifth, and Poland (325,000TEU) in seventh position.With a transhipment volume of730,000 TEU (+21.6 per cent), theRussian Federation’s remains in 3rdposition. Its trail behind Singapore,with 749,000 TEU (ranking in2nd position), continued to diminishin 2007.The volume of container traffic to andfrom Norway declined slightly at alevel of 204,000 TEU. In contrast,the volume of containerised trafficwith Denmark rose sharply in 2007,to 230,000 TEU (+22 per cent).In the process, the Scandinavianneighbour improved its rankingfrom 12th to 10th position amongthe key trading partners forcontainer traffic with the Port ofHamburg. The Baltic states ofLatvia (97,000 TEU), Lithuania(96,000 TEU) and Estonia (87,000TEU) all recorded double-digitgrowth rates.In addition to the feeder trafficexpressed in these figures,substantial numbers of import andexport containers are also transportedto these countries by roadand rail.China, South East Asia and Indiaalso remained boom regionsin sea-borne foreign trade withHamburgThe volume of Hamburg’s containertraffic on the Asian sea routes roseby about 722,000 TEU from 2006to 2007. This represents an increaseof 14.9 per cent. East Asia andSouth East Asia each recordeddouble-digit growth rates in 2007,at 16.5 per cent (3.9 million TEU)and 12.2 per cent (1.0 million TEU),respectively.Der Containerverkehr Hamburgs mit den Fahrtgebieten Asiens stieg um 14,9 Prozent./Container traffic betweenHamburg and Asia grew by 14.9 per cent.Foto: HasenpuschIn traffic with India alone, one ofthe up-and-coming foreign traderegions, last year a volume of150,000 TEU was handled inocean-going trade via Hamburg, anincrease of 48 percent year-on-year.The outstanding significance of theHamburg seaport and logisticslocation for handling Asian importsand exports is underscored by thefact that no fewer than 27 scheduledfull-container services run betweenHamburg and ports in the Far Eastevery week. The Asian countrieshave been at the top of the list ofHamburg’s most important partnersfor seaborne foreign trade for manyyears now. >>>PORT OF HAMBURG MAGAZINE 1/089