Hamburg Q1 throughput up 3.8 percent to 2.2 million TEUs
In the first three months of 2012 the Port of Hamburg achieved total throughput of 32.6 million tones, up 3.8 percent. At 2.2 million TEUs, throughput on the container handling was 5.2 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2011.
Compared to the main ports further West, Hamburg thus gained additional market share and strengthened its position as the Northern European hub for container traffic; Rotterdam’s throughput was down by 3.9 percent while Antwerp’s increase was comparatively minimal at 0.7 percent.
By comparison with the first quarter of 2011, general cargo throughput at the Port of Hamburg achieved a 7.9 percent advance to 23.1 million tonnes. Growth here was primarily powered by the strong trend in exports of containerised general cargoes.
“We are delighted that with a 5.2 percent rise in container throughput in the first quarter, the Port of Hamburg is markedly ahead of the 2.4 percent average growth for the four major ports in the North Range,” said Claudia Roller, CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing. “The excellent result in this segment is what triggered the Port of Hamburg’s overall growth in the first quarter of 2012. For the remainder of the year we are reckoning on a further increase in total throughput.”
“We are headed in the right direction and have gained notable market shares. This is indicative for competitiveness of the Port of Hamburg”, said Jens Meier, HPA managing director.