Duisburg, the world's largest inland port, said it handled almost the same number of containers in 2009 as in the previous year despite the global economic downturn that resulted in steep volume declines at much larger European box ports.
The German port handled 1.82 million 20-foot equivalent units last year down 4 percent from 1.89 million in 2008.
By contrast, Germany's biggest port Hamburg suffered a 28 percent slump in container traffic while Antwerp was down 16 percent and Rotterdam, Europe's top box hub, saw volume fall 9.6 percent from 2008.
New railroad services and a focused multi-modal logistics strategy "have enabled us to generate cargo throughput even during the period of an economic slump," said Erich Staake, chief executive of the port operator Duisburger Hafen AG.
Overall port traffic slumped by 19 percent, however, to 44 million metric tons as the temporary shuttering of blast furnaces and coal-fired power plants led to a "drastic" decline in steel and coal cargoes.
Oil and chemical cargoes declined just 3 percent from high 2009 levels, the port said.
Staake said the port is optimistic cargo volume will recover this year, "Trade in the port of Duisburg has been growing in the last few months mainly in the field of containerized transport." he said.
"Unless we see a new global economic downtrend our 2010 numbers will be well ahead of our 2009 financial data," Staake said.