Maritime Trade and Transport - HWWI

of total goods handling in Le Havre. On the other hand, growth in container trade between
1998 and 2004 was 80%. This only minimally affected growth in total cargo handling during
this period, because container trade only accounts for 25% of overall handling in Le Havre.
In the Atlantic area, as in the North Sea region, the UK ports are highly significant, with a
handling volume of 129 mn t in 2004. The French ports, on the other hand, recorded total
cargo handling of 143 mn t in 2004. Between 2003 and 2004, growth at the four French ports
was 5.2 percentage points lower than that of the four top British ports.
The ports in the new EU countries in the Baltic Sea area – Poland, Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania – only began developing significant trade relationships with Western Europe in
the early 1990s. In the course of the expanding trade relations between Eastern and Western
Europe, certain port sites in the Baltic Sea region have grown immensely. Today the first five
of the largest Baltic Sea ports are among the new EU member states (see Fig. 24). All told,
134 mn t of goods were handled in these ports in 2004. This is equivalent to more than 63%
of the total goods handled by the ports in the Baltic Sea region. In all, the Baltic Sea ports
account for 12% of the total goods handled by EU ports. Half of the handling in this region
falls to the ten largest EU Baltic Sea ports. Here, too, as in the North Sea, just a few ports
dominate the region. Approximately 17% of the handling at Baltic Sea ports are accounted
for by Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, which is currently one of the most dynamic regions in
the Baltic Sea region. The share of liquid goods, especially petroleum and (liquefied) natural
gas from Russia, is considerable in the Baltic ports. In 2004, the proportion of liquid cargo
handled in Tallinn (Estonia), was 68.5%, in Ventspils (Latvia) about 63%, and in Klaipeda
(Lithuania) about 57.3%.
Top 10 of the Baltic Sea area, total goods handling** in 1,000 t
42 Berenberg Bank · HWWI: Strategy 2030 · No. 4
Growth Growth Growth
1997 2002 2003 2004 1997–2004 2002–2003 2003–2004
1 Tallinn (EE) n.a.* 36,480 n.a. 37,116 n.a. n.a. n.a.
2 Ventspils (LV) n.a. n.a. n.a. 27,081 n.a. n.a. n.a.
3 Klaipeda (LT) n.a. n.a. n.a. 25,842 n.a. n.a. n.a.
4 Gdansk (PL) n.a. 17,166 21,323 22,072 n.a. 24,2 3,5
5 Riga (LV) n.a. n.a. n.a. 22,063 n.a. n.a. n.a.
6 Skoeldvik (FI) 9,886 17,581 17,453 19,248 94.7 -0.7 10.3
7 Lübeck 16,847 17,020 17,786 19,168 13,8 4.5 7.8
8 Rostock 16,818 17,347 16,712 16,367 -2.7 -3.7 -2.1
9 Helsinki (FI) 10,091 11,475 11,688 12,252 21.4 1.9 4.8
10 Trelleborg (SE) 8,771 10,336 10,655 10,771 22.8 3.1 1.1
Total n.a. n.a. n.a. 211,980 n.a. n.a. n.a.
* n.a.: not available
** Handling without container tare weight
Fig. 24
Source: Eurostat (2006).