Hamburg reduces tariffs to attract lost traffic

The Port of Hamburg has decided to reduce the charge for transhipment containers. In addition, the port authority has decided to freeze a planned two per cent increase in the pilotage charge until mid-2012. The ambition is to attract transhipment containers to and from the Baltic area, which the port has lost primarily to Rotterdam and Antwerp. According to German media, the new scheme could mean a reduction in the container charge of up to 50 per cent for operators with a large transhipment turnover in the port.