Eurogate tops 14m TEUs in 2008
Eurogate said it handled over 14 million TEUs for the first time in 2008, driven by double-digit growth at its main hub in Bremerhaven, Germany.
But Europe's biggest container terminal operator warned traffic will decline this year after volumes at its Bremerhaven and Hamburg facilities tumbled in December as ocean carriers cut or consolidated services.
"All container terminals are currently feeling the pinch of the economic crisis...and we have no way of knowing how profound and how prolonged the present situation is likely to be," said Emanuel Schiffer, chairman of the German company's management board, adding the company is expecting a single-digit drop in volumes in 2009.
Container volume rose 2.3 percent to a record 14.2 million TEUs last year as a 12.4-percent increase in traffic at Bremerhaven to 5.5 million TEUs outweighed a 7.7-percent slide in neighboring Hamburg to 2.7 million TEUs.
Eurogate's 33.4 percent-owned Italian unit, Contship Italia, reported traffic down 2.1 percent to 5.7 million TEUs from 5.8 million TEUs in 2007. Gioia Tauro's Medcenter Container Terminal lifted volume 0.7 percent to 3.5 million TEUs, but the Cagliari terminal in Sardinia was down nearly 52 percent at 257,000 TEUs following the loss of Maersk Line services.
The Lisbon container terminal handled just over 235,000 TEUs, down 0.9 percent, and the Tangier terminal, which began operations in October, handled 64,000 TEUs.
Traffic slowed dramatically at Eurogate's German terminals in December, traditionally the busiest period of the year, largely the result of sharply lower imports from China. Volume fell 4.3 percent in Bremerhaven and 9.8 percent in Hamburg compared with December, 2007.
The Italian terminals, by contrast, boosted December traffic by 12.9 percent, driven mainly by the arrival of new customers at Cagliari, including the Grand Alliance consortium and United Arab Shipping Co.
Schiffer said Eurogate is confident of long-term growth in ocean container traffic and will continue its investment program, including its 350-million euros [$455-million] share of the construction costs of a new 3 million-TEU deepwater terminal at the north German port of Wilhelmshaven and the expansion of capacity in Hamburg.
The group will also cut costs by shelving short-term investments.
But Europe's biggest container terminal operator warned traffic will decline this year after volumes at its Bremerhaven and Hamburg facilities tumbled in December as ocean carriers cut or consolidated services.
"All container terminals are currently feeling the pinch of the economic crisis...and we have no way of knowing how profound and how prolonged the present situation is likely to be," said Emanuel Schiffer, chairman of the German company's management board, adding the company is expecting a single-digit drop in volumes in 2009.
Container volume rose 2.3 percent to a record 14.2 million TEUs last year as a 12.4-percent increase in traffic at Bremerhaven to 5.5 million TEUs outweighed a 7.7-percent slide in neighboring Hamburg to 2.7 million TEUs.
Eurogate's 33.4 percent-owned Italian unit, Contship Italia, reported traffic down 2.1 percent to 5.7 million TEUs from 5.8 million TEUs in 2007. Gioia Tauro's Medcenter Container Terminal lifted volume 0.7 percent to 3.5 million TEUs, but the Cagliari terminal in Sardinia was down nearly 52 percent at 257,000 TEUs following the loss of Maersk Line services.
The Lisbon container terminal handled just over 235,000 TEUs, down 0.9 percent, and the Tangier terminal, which began operations in October, handled 64,000 TEUs.
Traffic slowed dramatically at Eurogate's German terminals in December, traditionally the busiest period of the year, largely the result of sharply lower imports from China. Volume fell 4.3 percent in Bremerhaven and 9.8 percent in Hamburg compared with December, 2007.
The Italian terminals, by contrast, boosted December traffic by 12.9 percent, driven mainly by the arrival of new customers at Cagliari, including the Grand Alliance consortium and United Arab Shipping Co.
Schiffer said Eurogate is confident of long-term growth in ocean container traffic and will continue its investment program, including its 350-million euros [$455-million] share of the construction costs of a new 3 million-TEU deepwater terminal at the north German port of Wilhelmshaven and the expansion of capacity in Hamburg.
The group will also cut costs by shelving short-term investments.