Maritime Trade and Transport - HWWI

2004 amounted in Wilhelmshaven to 95%, in Amsterdam to 35%, and in Antwerp to 25%.
The specialization of ports is also relevant to the differing growth rates of the port locations,
since growth rates in container trade are much higher than those of trade in bulk goods. This
explains, for example, the appreciable difference in growth between Rotterdam and Hamburg
between 1997 and 2004. Whereas the share of container trade in Hamburg is approximately
60% of total handling, Rotterdam includes a much higher share of bulk goods than
Ham burg.
In the Mediterranean area, with the second largest share of seaborne trade of the four trade
areas surveyed here, there is also a dominant port, Marseilles (see Fig. 22). The port of Mar -
seilles recorded handling of 90 mn t in 2004, equal to a 21% share of total goods handling in
the Mediterranean. Since 2002, however, Marseilles has not been able to further increase its
leadership position. Growth in goods handling at this port between 2002 and 2003 was only
moderate at 3.6%, and between 2003 and 2004, it showed a downward trend. Part of the reason
for this slim growth rate was the high share (86% in 2004) of liquid bulk goods as well
as dry bulk goods in the total volume of goods handled. Handling of liquid bulk goods in
Marseilles declined, at -4.2%, between 1998 and 2004.
In 2004, Mediterranean ports loaded and unloaded a total of 932 mn t of goods, including
427 mn t at the ten largest ports in the Mediterranean region and 505 mn t at the other
Mediterranean ports. Handling in the ten largest ports in 2004 was thus 4.3% higher than in
2003. The differences in growth rates among the ports was pronounced in the period from
Top 10 of the Mediterranean area, total goods handling** in 1,000 t
40 Berenberg Bank · HWWI: Strategy 2030 · No. 4
Growth Growth Growth
1997 2002 2003 2004 1997–2004 2002–2003 2003–2004
1 Marseilles (FR) n.a.* 89,244 92,418 90,810 n.a. 3.6 -1.7
2 Algeciras (ES) n.a. 41,704 47,711 50,860 n.a. 14.4 6.6
3 Genoa (IT) 43,633 44,408 46,949 45,880 5.1 5.7 -2.3
4 Triest (IT) 46,664 43,717 41,566 41,516 -11.0 -4,9 -0.1
5 Taranto (IT) 36,720 32,462 35,305 39,368 7.2 8.8 11.5
6 Barcelona (ES) n.a. 24,991 29,931 36,317 n.a. 19.8 21.3
7 Valencia (ES) n.a. 28,481 30,385 32,297 n.a. 6.7 6.3
8 Augusta (IT) 30,702 29,904 31,803 31,699 3.2 6.4 -0.3
9 Tarragona (ES) n.a. 29,232 28,638 29,607 n.a. -2.0 3.4
10 Gioia Tauro (IT) 12,401 25,538 25,284 29,403 137.1 -1.0 16.3
Total n.a. 389,681 409,990 427,757 n.a. 5.2 4.3
* n.a.: not available
** Handling without container tare weight
Fig. 22
Source: Eurostat (2006).